The Complete Story of Sonic The Hedgehog
by Aaron M. Brandt
Summary: Throughout history, animals lived in harmony with one another. That is, until Dr. Ivo Robotnik took over Mobotropolis and claimed it as his own. Now, Sonic and his friends, with the help of a few humans, wage war against Dr. Robotnik. On break for now.
1. Credits and information

Title: The Complete Story of Sonic the Hedgehog  
Author: A.M Brandt  
Approximate date started: 8-2003  
Approximate date finished:  
Genres: Science Fiction, Action, Adventure, Drama

Credit:  
Dan Drazen (for allowing me to use two of his stories in this one, specifically Catch The Flag and First Honor)  
Archie Comics (producing the comic that parts of this story are taken from, specifically the Princess Sally mini-series, the Endgame storyline and portions of the rest of the comic book series)  
Sega Corporation (for creating Sonic the Hedgehog)  
DiC Corporation (for making the Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM cartoon that provided the initial inspiration for this story)

Characters (Voiced by):  
Princess Sally Acorn (Andrea Corr)  
Sonic Hedgehog  
Miles "Tails" Prower  
Antoine D'coolette  
Bunnie Rabbot  
Rotor  
Knuckles the Echidna  
King Maximillian Acorn (Sam Neill)  
Queen Alicia Acorn (Jodie Foster)  
Snively Kintobar  
Doctor Julian "Ivo Robotnik" Kintobar  
Aaron Brandt (Himself)  
Samantha Collen (Herself)  
Liz Spoden (Herself)  
Neile Pederson (Himself)

About the Author and story:  
Aaron M. Brandt was born December 4th, 1982 to his parents Mike & Deb Brandt in Central Minnesota. At the age of 13, Aaron started work on the first of his Sonic stories as a school assignment (which got a pretty good grade). Shortly thereafter, Aaron started work on a much longer version of his Sonic story and gave up on it shortly after beginning work on it (Aaron lost interest in it because it had strayed too far from what he had originally envisioned). Then, around the same time he gave up on the first version of it, Aaron started work on a second version of the same idea. This version proved to be no easy task; started late into 5th Grade (age 13), the story would go unfinished until Aaron's junior year of high school (age 19) where it would be finished as suddenly as it had first began. After that, Aaron took a break from writing for a couple months and then began the process of typing it up, which would turn into a long process. After undergoing too many changes to count, the story eventually made it to Aaron's website where it has now lain dormant and untouched. It was about two months until Aaron decided to take a good look at what had become his most time-consuming story and realized that it did not live up to its name. To correct this, Aaron decided to re-write the entire story from start to finish in order to account for the nine years of Sonic and his friends' lives that went untouched in the original version of the story. As of the writing of this, there are no plans to publish this story except for online and there is no movie in production based on this (though the author would hope that either happens someday).

Disclaimers:  
The author makes no claims to ownership of any of the Sonic characters (Sally, Sonic, Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, Tails, Robotnik, Rosie, Julayla, Snively, Dulcy, any SWATbots, Knuckles and the Chaotix, Amy Rose and anyone I forgot to mention associated with the aforementioned) which are owned by all of the following: DiC Corporation, Archie Comics, Sega of America/Japan, any other company who might hold some sort of ownership over them. The names Aaron Brandt, Neile Pederson, Samantha Collen, and Liz Spoden are owned by their respective persons and are used with permission. The Lamborghini in the story was created by Lamborghini Motors Company of Sweden and heavily modified by NASA.  
His or her respective owners own anyone I forgot to mention somehow and their going without acknowledgement was purely unintentional.  
No animals were harmed in the production of this story (unless you count some mindless robots and an evil doctor). Sonic and his friends oversaw the writing of this story to make sure it was as accurate as possible. Aaron's car from the story currently resides in a museum on a far, distant planet.

SoundTrack and song placement:

Artist - Song Title - Placement  
Moby? Pink Floyd? Fatboy Slim? - Main theme - Main theme  
No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom - Robotnik starts the betrayal  
Fleetwood Mac - Peacekeeper - Aaron's newly named Lamborghini pulls up in front of the school  
Pink Floyd - The Machine - First pan-through of Robotropolis  
Blue Man Group - Rods & Cones - The Great War between the Overlanders and the Mobians begins  
Moby featuring Gwen Stefani - Southside - Aaron picks up two friends in the Lamborghini  
Ace Of Base - Living in Danger - Sally realizes that the residents of Knothole live in constant danger  
Evanescence - My Immortal (Band version) - Sonic mourns Sally's death and then angrily storms into Robotropolis  
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Road Trippin' - Aaron and Sam embark on their final journey to Mobius.  
Neil Young - Natural Beauty - End credits  
Ace Of Base - Lucky Love - Sam and Aaron realize that they're in love with each other  
Sweet - Ballroom Blitz - Aaron and Sam attend the dance competition  
The Corrs - Runaway - Aaron proposes to Sam at a concert on Earth  
REM? The Corrs? Aaron Brandt? - Everybody Hurts (acoustic) - The Freedom Fighters, Aaron and Sam sit around a campfire after defeating Robotnik andsurveying the damage  
The Scorpions - Winds Of Change - Aaron, Sam and the Freedom Fighters watch as Robotropolis falls  
Abba - Fernando - Aaron and Sam compete in the dance championship finals  
Real McCoy - Run Away - The Freedom Fighters celebrate the destruction of Robotropolis  
Pat Benatar - We Belong (Acoustic) - Sonic and Sally admit their love for each other, then decide to get married


	2. Prologue

**The following presentation is rated PG-13 for: Some violence, destruction of robots, mild language, and destruction of a city.**

Prologue

For hundreds of years, Earth was believed to be the only planet with intelligent life on it. Then, in 1971, a jetliner headed from Miami to Bermuda mistakenly flew into the Bermuda Triangle and was catapulted into another dimension. The jetliner crash-landed in the side of a mountain on a strange planet. The planet they landed on was very similar to Earth with one difference; instead of Humans being the dominant life form, it seemed animals were. Immediately, the crew and passengers from the plane sought out food and shelter. While wandering through the woods trying to find some type of civilization, they came across a castle surrounded by a small village. Upon setting eyes on the strange-looking new arrivals, all the villagers ran into the castle and shut the doors behind them leaving the Earthly humans outside. A few minutes later, the King of the animals came out and had his guards bring the humans in. After a lengthy counsel, the humans were allowed to stay, but they were to inhabit the Northern Peninsula of planet Mobius. The King of the animals was kind enough to offer to help them get their aircraft out of the mountainside, transport them north to the Northern Peninsula and give them enough supplies to get their civilization started once they got there.  
After roughly three years, the humans had setup a simple but effective city-state and had established trade routes with the Kingdom of Acorn and the neighboring areas. The humans had established schools, colleges, and a couple hospitals and had already trained several scientists. One of the scientists, Doctor Julian of the house of Kintobar, was the most promising of all the scientists. His inventions included the videophone which was installed between King Acorn's castle and the humans President, the light-speed communication system which was installed between all major cities, and the aircar transportation system; perhaps Julian's greatest invention. A pollution-free means of transportation for worldwide travel that proved to be most useful for trade between the humans and the native Mobians.  
Unknown to the humans, Julian had invented weapons using a natural power source found on the planet; small green crystals that generated their own electricity. The general populace amongst the humans hailed Julian as their first Chief Science officer and thereafter established a formal government similar to the government on Earth. On the day that the government was put into full service, the King from Mobotropolis, the capital of the Western quadrant, came to the celebration with his highest advisors. At the ceremony, the King took Julian aside and congratulated him on his appointment of science officer and offered his assistance with anything he might need help with. Julian offered his help with anything they could need that fell within his realm of knowledge and expertise. After the celebration was done, the King and his advisors went back to Mobotropolis.  
The King's first order of business was to establish an embassy with the humans so he could get periodic reports of their progress as a civilization. He rounded up his most loyal subjects and after carefully examining their political knowledge; he sent word to the humans to expect an emissary within the next day. The emissary would setup an embassy and thereafter report back to the King as needed about any developments that he should know about. The following morning, the emissary was sent to the humans and he set up the embassy with the help of the humans. By then, the humans were readying to attempt to send a team of men up in a spacecraft to try to locate Earth. All the environmental advisors were against the idea on the grounds that the pollution from the spacecraft would be extremely disruptive to the natural balance of the planet. None of the space advisors listened to the environmental advisors, and shortly after launched the spacecraft. The craft, which Julian and a team of his choosing had designed, made it into space without any trouble. Once in orbit around Mobius, they readied themselves for hypersleep, which was another product of Julian's extensive knowledge, and once in it, the craft unfolded a solar sail and drifted out of range of the radio that one of Julian's assistants had built.  
After the spacecraft was sent on its mission, there followed a technological revolution, which Julian had predicted would follow the spacecraft. Under his guidance, they synthesized the materials that they had had on Earth and did not have on Mobius. Materials for building computers, cars, television sets, transistor radios, gadgets that did just about everything. Unknown to the humans, the more common of the items contained small mind-control devices that he used to his pleasure by manipulating the humans like puppets. Everyone got one of the television devices that Julian had designed, including the King's emissary. The emissary was so fascinated with the television device that he gave up his position as the King's royal emissary and became the first native Mobian on the human's government council. Once the King received word of his emissary's revocation of assigned duties, he terminated the trade routes with the humans and only maintained periodic contact with them.  
For the next ten Mobian years, the two races lived in peace, despite Julian's attempts at starting a war between them. The humans reveled at the marvels of science that Julian created in his labs and the Mobians scoffed at them for relying so heavily on technology. The only technology that the native Mobians had in their possession was the videophone that had been delivered and installed for communication and a hub for the aircar transport system. Late into 3219 by the Mobian calendar, the King and Queen of Mobius became parents. Their child was named Sally and was born into being Princess and future Queen of Mobotropolis. After Sally's birth, the King decided to end the silence between the two races and reinstall an emissary. After carefully picking the Mobian to fill the position, an aircar was called for and the Mobian was flown to the human's territory. Shortly after sending the new emissary to the Eastern Quadrant, the King and the humans reestablished their trade routes. With the trade routes in place once again, the two civilizations grew to an unprecedented size and soon both races were setting up cities all over the continents. Soon, they each had a thriving country under their control; the Mobians governed by the benevolent King Acorn and the Northerners governed by the strict but fair President Jacobson.  
All the time the humans were building their civilization on Mobius, Earth continued to search for the missing people well into the 1980s. No sign was ever found of them, though the Federal Aviation Administration demanded that all air traffic routes go around the Bermuda Triangle where the missing plane was last seen on radar. The next year, the government gave up on its search for the missing people and continued on as if the loss had never occurred. Of course, they gave a nice sum of money to the families of the missing people, but the families were always angry with the government for giving up on the search so soon.  
On Mobius, the humans rebelled against the government they had on the grounds that they did not need a government watching over a peaceful people. At the urging of the President, the government was removed from power and so was he. The native Mobians continued trading what they could with the humans for whatever the humans deemed a fair trade. The King did sense some tensions mounting when he called to thank the humans for their latest trade of computers for a shipment of Chaos Emeralds. Through all this, Julian Kintobar kept to himself in his labs. The only thing that anyone knew about what he was doing in his labs was building some kind of alternative energy device that would replace the dangerously powerful Chaos Emeralds that they used. He also continued to build and design common things they had had back on Earth; standard telephone systems, faster and better computers… at one point, he even designed an Atomic power station, which never worked.  
In Mobotropolis, the King and Queen were proud parents; their daughter, Princess Sally Alicia, had entered private schooling and was doing very good at it. Things were quiet all over the city; new things being discovered by the King's royal scientists, Princess Sally continued to impress her teachers, and the trade routes were looking like they might last. Everything was peaceful and quiet all over the planet.

(End of Prologue)


	3. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 First Meetings (Mobian year: 3225)

On Earth, Aaron Brandt sat at the same table with the same people each and every day at lunch ever since he started going to school there. Something was different about this day; he and one of his best friends had gotten into an argument over a trivial matter such as kids in tenth grade often did. The fight ended with Aaron moving to the end of the table as far away from the friend who fought with him. Aaron rested his head in his arms and cried to himself for a couple minutes out of frustration and anger. His friend had told Aaron previously about this girl that he was going to try to ask out on a date, a girl named Samantha Collen. Unknown to Aaron until he looked up from his arms, she was sitting about two tables away from him and saw him sitting there crying. She made eye contact with Aaron at first; Aaron noticed she had beautiful eyes, but was worried that if his friend caught him talking to the girl he wanted to go out with, he might beat Aaron up for it. After a couple minutes, she came over to where Aaron was sitting and sat down across from him.  
"What's wrong?" She asked him.  
"My friend down there was making fun of me and picking on me." Aaron said, wiping away his tears.  
"Don't let people like him get to you. They do things like that for their personal amusement. Don't pay any attention to them… just ignore them." Samantha said.  
"Aren't you the new girl here? I don't remember seeing you around here before." Aaron said, trying to get his mind off the fight with his friend and strike up a conversation with Samantha.  
"Yeah, just transferred up here two days ago from New Mexico. It's so much better than New Mexico was… the people are nicer, you have an actual winter up here… no desert. I already like it up here." Samantha said, "I'll run and get my lunch so we can talk some more. Be right back." She said as she quickly walked back over to where she had her lunch tray, grabbed it, and came back over to where Aaron was.  
"I've always wanted to see the southern states; never been outside of Minnesota, though someday I hope to. Whose classes are you in, if I can ask?" Aaron asked between bites of the sandwich he had made himself that morning. Samantha dug through her folder trying to find the schedule the school had given her. She found it and let Aaron look at it. Aaron got his schedule out and compared them.  
"Cool… you're in my language arts and gym classes! That'll make those two classes go by a little faster… I don't mind the language arts class, but I do wish they'd teach us something that we'll actually use once we get out of school." Aaron said, looking up from the schedules. Samantha glanced at the clock and saw that lunch was almost over with and let Aaron know.  
"Darn. I guess I'll see you tomorrow in language." Aaron said as he took the remains of his sandwich and milk carton up to the garbage cans with Samantha.  
"Yeah. Until next time I see you, keep in mind what I said. Don't let the small things get you down. I'll see you tomorrow." She said as she switched her folders to her other hand and headed off to her next class with a couple of the girls she had been sitting with. Something struck Aaron about her; she seemed to be someone who was perpetually happy even in the most difficult times. Samantha liked Aaron because he was not like some of the boys she had met down in New Mexico who were all image and no emotions at all. At least Aaron was not afraid to let his true emotions show. Tomorrow, she was hoping to find out a little more about him. To her, he seemed like a friendly, out-going boy and she could not understand how anyone could argue with him about anything. She promised herself that she would do her best to help him with whatever problems he may have.

"Sally, I want you to start keeping a diary of your feelings and thoughts. It will help you keep your thoughts and feelings accessible. Your lessons are done for the day, so go run and play if you like." Julayla said to Sally, daughter of King Acorn of Mobotropolis. Sally grabbed up her books and the diary that Julayla had given her and ran down to her room. Once there, she put her books on her desk and ran outside to play with the rest of the children in the village. Princess Sally Acorn, age five, was running to find the rest of the children in the village when she bumped into a hedgehog.  
"Sorry about that. Are you okay?" Sally asked, getting up. She and the hedgehog had fallen down after running into each other.  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Say, aren't you Princess Sally?" The hedgehog asked as he dusted off his spines. Sally was a little surprised that the young hedgehog knew who she was.  
"Yes I am. What's your name?" Sally asked.  
"I'm Sonic Hedgehog. You probably know my Uncle Chuck, the King's royal inventor." Sonic said with a smile, "Where you off to in such a hurry?"  
"I was on my way to go play with the others my age from the Village. You can come with if you want." Sally offered, all the time thinking that there was something about Sonic that she liked. He was a little on the brash side, but he was also gentle.  
"Yeah, I've got nothing else to do." Sonic exclaimed. Sonic thought that Sally was really cool, ever so slightly overly royal and neat, but she was also the nicest person that Sonic had met. Sonic had just moved to Knothole a few days ago from the other side of the Great Forest and barely knew anyone. They ran off and eventually found the other children that Sally played with and played games and goofed off until everyone else had to go in for dinner. Sally went back to the castle and up to her room to write about her meeting Sonic. Shortly after getting to her room and starting her diary, the King called her down for dinner.  
"Dear, what'd you learn today in class?" Queen Alicia Acorn asked. She and King Maximillian Acorn were sitting across from Sally and Julayla.  
"I learned a little more about our history and mathematics. Then Julayla gave me a diary so that I could focus more on my feelings and thoughts and then I went outside and played with the children from the village. On the way, I bumped into someone named Sonic Hedgehog. He says that his uncle is your inventor, daddy." Sally said as she ate.  
"Ah, yes… Charles Hedgehog. He says he's getting closer to being done with his latest machine, the roboticizer. He says if he can get it to work, it'll solve our major medical problems; broken arms, legs, things like that." King Acorn explained. They had finished dinner and Rosie, Sally's aunt, brought them desert. After desert, the King and Queen went back to the library to read a little bit before going to bed and Sally went back up to her room and went straight to bed.

(End of Chapter 1)


	4. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Friends

Aaron was surprised at himself. He had always found it incredibly difficult to talk to any girls. Still, he would either have to change that or he would have to ask the teacher to move his seat to the other side of the classroom. To Aaron, Samantha seemed like she would be easy to get along with. At the same time, Samantha thought Aaron would make a nice friend; to her, he seemed like he needed a friend and a little guidance. For the whole class, Samantha and Aaron talked through the teachers lecture.  
"Why'd you move all the way up here? I'd rather stay in New Mexico." Aaron asked quietly.  
"It's nice down there, but it's a lot nicer up here… it actually cools off a little around here. I had to move with mom and my brother. I don't have any relatives down there." Samantha explained near a whisper. Aaron knew what that was like; he had been doing nothing but moving around these past five years with his parents. His parents did some work for the military, so their jobs took them all over the United States.  
"Tomorrow if you're not doing anything, you wanna get together and do something?" Aaron asked Samantha.  
"Um… not that I know of. My parents are leaving on business tonight before I get home, so I shouldn't have anything going on. I'll let you know tomorrow in class here." Samantha said as the class was dismissed.  
"Okay… I'll see you at lunch then." Aaron said as he and Sam walked out of the classroom. At that, they parted and went to the rest of their classes and then eventually after what seemed like hours to Aaron, he finally made it to lunch.  
"Hey, Sam! How you doing?" Aaron asked as he entered the lunchroom and sat down next to Sam.  
"Hi Aaron. So far, it's been going by quickly. Having you in language arts with me makes it go by a little faster too." Sam said between bites of food. Lunch passed quickly for Aaron and Sam and before they knew it, they had to head back to class. By the end of the day, Aaron was ready to just sleep the rest of the day and night and most of tomorrow. He walked home that night, and once home called his parents who were away on business in Texas. After he called them, he went about his normal chores and to end the night, he took out the garbage.  
Meanwhile, Samantha spent a quiet evening at home alone. Her brother and sister were spending the week at friend's places and all the people she had met at school lived in different towns than she did. To combat her boredom, she ran around the house cleaning what needed it and eventually wore herself out and went to bed.  
At Aaron's house, he was taking the garbage out when he stumbled across a section of the garage floor that was darker than the rest. Curious, he dug around and found a flashlight and a screwdriver and tapped on the floor section that looked darker than the rest. The odd section sounded like it was hollowed out, so to test his initial thought, he found an edge of it and pried it up with the screwdriver. After finding something to hold the section of concrete open, Aaron climbed down into the opening it had created.

For the next few days, things were quiet around Mobotropolis. Not much happened; Sally tried to write in her diary daily and play with Sonic when possible. The latter proved to be tougher than she wanted; her parents wanted her to stay in the castle as much as possible so she would learn how to run the city when it came her turn to ascend the throne.  
Then, one day while on routine patrol at the edge of the Great Forest, Jules and Charles Hedgehog found a rather obese human laying face down in a puddle of mud.  
"Charles, what should we do? You know how the tensions between the Overlanders and the Mobians have been lately… shouldn't we just leave him here?" Jules asked. Charles, knowing that they could be imprisoned for bringing an Overlander too close to the city but at the same time knowing that his life could be endangered out here, weighed the two options. Hearing some sounds coming from the West, Charles and Jules made the decision right there. They hefted the human into the side-cart on their motorbike and sped back to the Kingdom. After a short distance, they finally made it back to the Kingdom.  
At the gate, the Sergeant At Arms forbid them from entering with an Overlander amongst them.  
"Sergeant, we need to get this man to the hospital for medical care. He could be hurt." Jules said, hoping that the guard would let them pass.  
"You'll have to talk to the King before you do anything with him. You may enter… I'll let the King know to expect you two and this human." The Sergeant announced before contacting the King over his radio device. "Sire, I hate to interrupt… but Jules and Charles Hedgehog are on their way into the castle. They have a large human with them. Should I have security escort them in?" Sergeant Quill asked once Jules and Charles were out of earshot. The radios were voice-activated, so any voices in the room that he was communicating with would activate it. In the background, he heard the voice of the King tell someone to hold on.  
"Sergeant, I'm sure that will not be necessary. Charles and Jules are good men… they would not do anything that would put the Kingdom in danger. They are to pass unobstructed. Thank you for letting me know." The King said into his radio before ending the call. He turned back to the videophone and the call he was in.  
"I apologize, President Jacobson, but I have to cut our call short. Something's come up here that requires my attention. I do hope that you can resolve your problem with little trouble. I shall be in contact again soon." King Acorn said into the videophone before terminating the call. The King walked from his study into his main chambers to await the arrival of Jules and Charles. Within a matter of minutes, they arrived with the human.

Once down below the garage, Aaron discovered what was housed within it. Upon laying eyes on the various computers and unidentifiable devices down there, he ran back up to the house and quickly looked up Samantha's phone number online. Once he found it, he called her.  
"Hello?" Samantha said. It was obvious that she was tired from the sound of her voice.  
"It's me, Aaron. I'm sorry to be calling you so late like this, but I think I found something that you might like to take a look at with me. It's not an emergency, I'd just like you to see it at the same time I do." Aaron explained.  
"What is it? Don't keep me in the dark here." Samantha asked, sounding a little more awake.  
"It's a car of some sort. But, it's not like any car I've ever seen before. It's fitted with all kinds of computers and other devices I haven't seen before." Aaron explained.  
"Hmm… Okay, I'll come over. I'm not sure how much good I'll be… I don't know that much about cars. I'll be there in a few minutes." Samantha replied, "Where do you live, by the way?"  
"About three blocks north of you. I looked up your phone number online and ended up getting your address too. My house isn't that hard to miss, but I'll be outside waiting for you so you don't get lost. See you when you get here." Aaron said before he hung up. To keep himself occupied, he grabbed his laptop and set it up on the porch and waited for Samantha. When she got there, it was past ten at night. Samantha had biked there after hurriedly getting dressed. Samantha looked almost the same at night as she did during the day; long straight hair, comfortable clothes, quite natural looking. In Aaron's eyes, that was what had caught his attention the first time he had seen her. After jumping off her bike, she walked it up the sidewalk to where Aaron was standing.  
"I'm here… where's this car you wanted to show me?" Samantha said once she caught her breath.  
"Under the garage. Yes… it's really under the garage. Looks like someone built a secret basement-type structure under the ordinary garage and did a pretty good job of concealing their efforts. Come with me and I'll show you the car." Aaron said as he led Samantha to the garage. They walked back to the garage and climbed down the hole in the floor. Once down in the sub-garage, Aaron felt along the wall until he found the light switch.  
"Wow! Look at the size of this place… it's huge!" Sam said as she surveyed the garage. They both walked around the perimeter of the covered thing in the center of it. Samantha pointed to it and asked, "What's that? Is that the car that you wanted to show me?" Aaron walked over to it and grabbed a corner of the tarp that covered it.  
"Yeah, it is." Aaron said as he pulled the tarp off the car. Under the tarp was the third most expensive car available on the market, a Lamborghini Diablo. The body and frame were in perfect shape and so was the interior. After looking around the benches that surrounded the walls, Aaron found the keys to the car and opened the doors. Samantha climbed into the passenger seat and looked over the gauges and multitude of buttons that filled the dashboard.  
"Who do you think owns this thing? It looks as if someone was in the process of modifying it." Sam said as she checked the connections on a few of the buttons, "Any idea on what the mods were for?" Aaron walked over and sat down in the drivers seat.  
"No clue on either question. The purpose of it, I could only guess at. From what I saw earlier tonight when I stumbled across it, none of the computers in it look familiar at all. The ones around the garage here look like they're standard home computers, though I'm not sure why whoever designed this thing would need this many computers. What do you say… try starting it up and see if it runs?" Sam climbed out of the car and stood beside it looking at it.  
"I dunno… how do you know it'll even run? What if it blows up or something?" Samantha asked, peering beneath it. The undercarriage was covered with sheet metal, making the bottom waterproof, Samantha guessed.  
"There's only one way to find out. The driveway for the aboveground garage is also the garage door for the underground one. Could you push that button over there?" Aaron asked as he pointed to the red button located next to a large hydraulic piston. Samantha walked over and pushed the button. A few seconds after she pushed the button, a relatively quiet compressor started up, and the piston came to life lifting the heavy concrete driveway. Aaron got back in the car, fiddled around with finding the right key for the ignition, and inserted the key. They both locked eyes before Aaron turned the key.

"I'm sorry to bother you, your Majesty, but I felt that you should know we found an Overlander wandering through the woods. He was being chased by two of his kind in their aircar devices." Charles explained.  
"We were out on patrol duty when we spotted him running through the woods with the other two humans following. From what we saw, he tripped and fell and the others flew on up ahead and we didn't see them again. We thought it best to bring him back here so he could be sent back to New America." Jules added. The King sat on his throne, obviously thinking it over.  
It would be unwise to pass judgment this soon, for the King knew of what was happening in New America then. Their Science Advisor to the President had designed a power plant that amplified the electricity generated by the Chaos Emeralds, while soaking the President for all the resources he could get. Eventually, the Science Advisor got the power plant operational though the construction ended up costing them ten lives, which was later attributed to a faulty synthetic metal beam. Meanwhile, the construction of the power plant and its strain on the economy angered a few of the more conservative humans, who in turn gathered strength through supporters of the idea that they had lived for more than twenty years without a power plant and they said that they did not need one now. Also, the strain on the economy forced the President to raise taxes to compensate for the coming budget crisis, which also fueled the growing protests. To escape the revolt, the Science Advisor took one of his aircars vanished from the country.  
"You know about the traveling rules… no one is to travel beyond the borders of their home country without first making arrangements with his destination. What brought you here, human?" King Acorn asked as politely as possible.  
"Sire, I mean your country no harm. My country fell into rebellion and I came here seeking refuge until New America calmed down. I am Julian Kintobar, science advisor to President Jacobson." Julian said, bowing slightly. The King kept running what President Monroe had told him and what the Overlander who called himself Julian Kintobar had just told him through his mind. If Julian was not lying, the Mobians might need his help. And, with the disappearance of King Acorn's former Warlord, Kodos, he needed to fill the position as soon as possible if a war could possibly break out amongst the humans.  
"With your knowledge about the humans, you may just be the person I was looking for. You see, my Warlord vanished three days ago and I haven't been able to find a suitable replacement for him. I think you'd make a good Warlord, especially if the war somehow makes it into our territory. Charles and Jules, take Julian to Doctor Quack and see to it that he gets a complete check-up. Afterward, bring him back here so I can instate him as Warlord at once." The King said before dismissing Charles, Jules, and Julian. Charles and his brother took the human to see Doctor Quentin Quack, the village's medical doctor. Because Quentin had never seen a human in person before, Jules went in first to explain what they were to do.  
"Jules! What brings you here? Did you trip into that patch of thorny bushes again?" Doctor Quack asked light-heartedly. Jules did not laugh as usual at the doctor's sense of humor. It seemed that he had something else on his mind.  
"I've got an unusual request from the King for you… we stumbled across an Overlander wandering through the forest earlier today and we took him to the King who wants to instate the human as Warlord. He said that you're to give him a thorough physical examination." Jules explained.  
"Um… okay, bring him in. I don't know much about humans other than what I've read and seen so far, so I don't know what good it'll do. But, if the King says to do it, then I'll do it. Bring him in." Doctor Quack said as he briskly walked around his office getting his instruments ready. Jules went outside and brought Charles and Julian into Quentin's doctor's office. The Doctor had done dozens of examinations before, but had never done one on a human. Quentin was a little surprised at the size of the human; his head just about touched the ceiling and he must have weighed at least three hundred pounds. Doctor Quack went about the normal examination as he always did. For his amazing size, the human was healthy; heart held a steady beat for sixty seconds, all reflexes were normal, and his lungs were clean. The only thing the human complained about was a slight headache since he had gotten to the planet. Quentin assumed that it was caused by the difference in air pressure and quality from Earth to Mobius. The doctor put a call through to King Acorn and let him know that the human was perfectly healthy, aside from his weight problem. The King thanked Doctor Quack and told him to send the human back to Castle Acorn with Jules and Charles, then ended the call. Jules and Charles brought the human back to the castle and before the King.  
"Ah… I see the good Doctor pronounced you to be in good health. Well, then… I think it's about time to instate you as Warlord." The King said as he unsheathed his Royal Sword. "By the power vested in me, I hereby make you Warlord of Mobotropolis Kingdom." King Acorn said as he welcomed Julian into his new position as Warlord.

The car roared to life after two tries. Slowly, Aaron revved the engine until the tachometer read ten thousand before letting off the gas and letting the engine slow back down to idle speed. Samantha came around to the passenger side and sat down. Once she was inside, the doors closed automatically. Samantha started a bit as the door clicked shut. She looked at Aaron, who in turn said,  
"It wasn't me… I'd guess it was the computer system. This thing is all decked out; in-dash GPS, four computer monitors showing different stuff about the car, all the normal displays for a car. I'd love to meet whoever designed and built this thing. You'll probably think I'm nuts, but wanna go for a short drive?" Aaron asked. Samantha did not hesitate,  
"I'd love to, but do you think you could drive this thing? Wouldn't you be worried about getting pulled over or something?" She asked as she looked over the various displays. Inside the car with both doors closed, the car was incredibly soundproof.  
"I'm pretty sure that this car could outrun a cop car even with the Lamborghini's factory engine. And, I've driven with dad and a couple of my friends to know enough… the tall pedal is gas, the wide one is the brake, 'D' is drive, and 'P' is park. From the look of this thing, it might be able to drive itself." Aaron explained as he adjusted his seat. The seat, windows, mirrors, and steering were all power, so all it took to operate any of them was the push of a button. One thing stumped Aaron about the car; there were hoses and tubes and two heavy-duty glass boxes sitting in the back seat. From what Aaron knew about Lamborghini's, they never even came with a back seat. Ever since he had first seen the car, he had been keeping a mental list of things to do and he just added another thing to that list; go visit another of his friends, Neile Pederson. Neile was a car nut; he would probably be able to figure out what the computers were for. If nothing else, it gave him an excuse to take the car out a few more times before his mom and dad got home from their trip.  
"Alright… just try to be careful. I don't really want to get arrested or end up in the hospital after a car crash or something." Samantha said. She was a little worried; Aaron knew the basics of driving, but she was sure he had never driven anything like this one. But, something in the back of her mind said to trust him. He seemed to know what he was doing and more than likely, nothing bad would happen. Aaron checked around inside the car for a garage door opener, and found it. It was built into the dashboard, along with the computers and displays. After confirming that it worked by pressing the button and watching as the garage door closed and opened, he finally shifted into reverse and gently pressed the accelerator. The car shot out of the underground garage; up the paved driveway leading out of the hidden garage and almost hit the shed across the alley. The car stopped just inches from hitting the shed on its own, without Aaron even touching the brakes. Samantha had her arms up to protect her face from flying shards of broken glass, even after the car stopped. After a few seconds, Samantha took her hands away from her face and glowered at Aaron.  
"I didn't mean to do that. I guess the gas pedal is really sensitive and this thing has a collision avoidance system in it. I'll have to watch that… though the good thing is we know the brakes work really good. Let's try that again." Aaron said before he brought the car out of its safety mode by releasing the emergency brake. This time, Aaron ever so gently touched the gas and backed the rest of the way out of the garage before closing the door. Once out of the garage, he carefully navigated his way out onto the streets and realized for the first time how long the car was; turns had to be made a little wider than usual, U-turns were all but impossible, and from prior experience Aaron decided that the normal parking space would be much too short for a car of this size. After driving for a few minutes, Aaron decided that he would need more experience driving the Lamborghini before he was confident enough to drive it down Main Street with all its usual street-racers. Samantha was having fun playing around with the computers and watching all the reactions of the other drivers; most, if not all of them had never seen a Lamborghini around town before. Being it was Friday night, the racers were out staking out a spot for the night's races, and a few of them flew past Aaron and Samantha in their high-performance sports cars. One of them pulled up next to Aaron and motioned for Aaron to roll down his window. Aaron did so at the stoplight.  
"Dude! Where'd you get that car?" The other guy asked.  
"It was a birthday present from my parents. Why you askin'?" Aaron replied and asked.  
"You in tonight's races? I'm positive you'd beat everyone there, including me. Follow me and I'll take you to the spot." The other guy said as he took off. Aaron, ever the polite young man, had a hard time turning down an invite to most anything.  
"You're not seriously thinking about it, are you?" Samantha asked. She had a worried look on her face.  
"If this thing's as fast as I think it is, there's no possible way I could lose. As we've already seen, the computers control everything in an emergency… nothing bad could happen. If you want, I can drop you off at your place and run your bike over to you once I get home." Aaron offered. Samantha shook her head.  
"I'll come with. Just promise me that you won't do anything too dumb. We'd better catch up with that guy before we lose track of him." Samantha said. At that, Aaron stepped on the gas and the car took off like a bullet. Inside the car, there was no sensation of sudden acceleration and no squealing of tires, just instant acceleration. As they raced to catch up with the guy in the fast Honda, Samantha played around with the computer screen in front of her. After a few seconds, she figured out how to operate the computer system. On the screen in front of her, she found a cut-away view of the engine in the car and a specification list for it.  
"Aaron… you haven't looked under the hood of this thing yet, have you? The engine in this car is a W-28… nine cylinders on each side of the 'V' and ten in the center. That's where all the power comes from," she was saying as they caught up with the guy in the Honda. "More than that, if these specs are right, we can top out at over seven-hundred miles per hour, more than double that if we had whatever is supposed to be in those boxes in the back seat." She read off the screen. The guy in the Honda gave Aaron a big thumbs up and turned his thousand-watt stereo all the way up and sped off. Aaron stepped on the gas slightly and they caught up to him almost immediately.  
"Sam… What's this thing got for a stereo?" Aaron said, glancing over just briefly. She tapped the screen a few times and found it.  
"It's a twenty disc CD changer, AM and FM radio with satellite radio built-in. According to what it says here, it's got a ten-thousand watt amp powered by its own alternator." Samantha read off the screen. From what it said on-screen, the CD-changer was located inside the car between the two front seats. She opened it and ejected the cartridge to see what CDs were in it.  
"Well… there's rap, rap, heavy metal, rap, some New Age, and more rap. What should I play?" Sam asked, looking from the large CD cartridge she held to Aaron.  
"Hmmm… Try the heavy metal. We're almost there, too." Aaron said, watching the road all the time. The guy in the Honda was turning right up ahead to go to the small man-made lake. Next to the lake, adjacent to the high school next to it, there was a large parking lot that was packed full of cars of every type. They turned into the parking lot and Aaron pulled up next to the guy in the Honda. Aaron and Samantha got out of the car and waited for someone to come over to them. After a couple minutes, the guy in the Honda came back over to them.  
"What's up? I'm Ryan, leader of the EastSiders." The guy with the Honda said. Aaron reached out and shook hands with him.  
"I'm Aaron and this is Samantha. You guys race for money at all or just for sport?" Aaron asked, unsure as to how to proceed. Ryan laughed a little.  
"Sometimes we race for money, sometimes we race for slips, sometimes just to prove whose car is the best. You thinking of dropping some green on tonight's races?" Ryan asked.  
"Eh… I've only got a hundred on me. Or, is there a limit for newcomers?" Aaron said, taking the hundred out of his pocket. His parents gave it to him in case he needed it for anything. Right now, he was looking to make some kind of impression on these guys; prove that he was not a loser or a cheapskate. He also wanted to show Samantha that he was not afraid of taking risks.  
"Yeah… I'm not gonna try to talk you out of placing a bet." Ryan said, and then he took a small two-way radio from his belt. "This is Speedy to base. Base come in." A few seconds later, base called him back.  
"This is base. What's the word?"  
"Round up the guys and meet me over towards my car. Got a new racer with greenbacks."  
"Alright… give us a few seconds. Over and out."  
"Alright… I'll introduce you to the rest of the guys and then we'll take care of the bets and then we race." Ryan said. Within a couple minutes, the rest of the racers were over there. "Alright… this is Aaron and the girl is Sam. Aaron wants to put a Benjamin on tonight's races, so anyone who can't cough up a hundred can't race tonight. We'll do a ladder race, winner takes all. Greaser, where are you?" Ryan said to the small crowd. Towards the back of the gathering, a skinny young kid came pushing his way through.  
"Right here. What's the story? Whoa… whose car is that?" Greaser said looking at the Lamborghini.  
"It's Aaron's car. Aaron, mind if we have a look at the engine?"  
"Not at all. Let me pop the hood." Aaron said as he climbed back into the car and found the button to open the back. When Aaron hit the button, the engine shut off and after a few seconds, the hood popped open on hydraulic pistons. Greaser dug out a flashlight and proceeded to look it over.  
"Wow! This thing's got eighteen… scratch that; it's got twenty-eight cylinders in a 'W' formation. Turbine cooling system. Dual alternators. Eighteen of the cylinders are carbureted, the rest are fuel injection. No nitrous, turbos or anything like that… just good ol' fashioned cylinders. Gotta be over a million under here!" Greaser said from underneath the hood. He climbed out from under it and tried to shut it the way the rest closed.  
"There's a button. Everything on this car is controlled with a button." Aaron reached up and tapped the small red glowing button underneath the hood. The hood closed silently and then the engine started up again.  
"Dude… this is the kind of car that we need to win the finals! Where'd you get that engine and all the internal gear and computers and stuff?" Greaser asked, wiping his now greasy hands on his pants. Aaron climbed back in it, tugged gently on the display panel that Samantha was using earlier, and removed it. It was a wireless touchscreen display panel through which the user could access the computer system built into the car. Aaron climbed back out with display panel in tow.  
"I don't know where they got the engine or anything… my folks gave me the car for my birthday. Real quick before we race, you wanna check out the specs on the engine?" Aaron said as he called up the specs on the display. Once he had them on-screen, he handed the panel to Greaser.  
"Awesome! I gotta get me a car like this one!" He said as he paged through the specs and blueprints and schematics for the computer systems.  
"Alright kids… race time. I drew up a hasty ladder, so everyone who's got a Benjamin has a turn to race. Who's not gonna be able to race?" Ryan shouted over the ambient noise. Only a couple of all the people present raised their hands. "Okay… Greaser, will you collect the bets? Then we'll be heading out to County Road Twelve… they've got it closed off for maintenance, though they haven't started yet." Greaser ran around and collected the bets and they headed out to the spot for the night. Aaron and Samantha raced four times and won all four times. By the end of the night, they drove away with over a thousand dollars.  
"Sam… Tomorrow night, I'll take you out to dinner where ever you want." Aaron said once they made it back to Aaron's house and parked the car in the garage.  
"Are you asking me out on a date, Aaron Brandt?" Samantha asked. She was a little surprised that he would be so forward about it.  
"Umm… well, yeah. Unless you don't want to or something." Aaron said, a little embarrassed.  
"I'd love to!" Samantha said before she hugged Aaron.

(End of Chapter 2)


	5. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 New Arrivals

Sally was fascinated by Julian's lab equipment. She had not been in the actual lab itself, she had only seen the equipment being hauled in, but for her it was enough. Most of it, she had never seen before, so she had no idea what it was. Apparently, her father had allowed the human to stay in her family's kingdom as Warlord. Though something did not feel right about him; he seemed a little creepy to her. To cure her curiosity, she went to see her father.  
"Daddy, that human is a little creepy. Why is he staying here?" Sally asked her dad. They were in the King's main chamber. On the wall behind the King, he had his Royal Sword mounted on a plaque with an inscription below it. The inscription read, 'To cure the King of anything, say the magic words'. The sword and its plaque always fascinated Sally. King Maximillian always told Sally that she would know what the magic words were if they were ever needed. Surrounding the plaque and its sword were the royal crests of the Acorn family throughout the centuries they ruled the planet.  
"Dear Sally, he's staying here because I want him to. Since Kodos and his assistant, Ixis Naugus, vanished, I've been trying to find someone to fill the position of Warlord. That's a very important position, honey. Though we rarely need a warlord, in times of war, the warlord is responsible for guiding the armies and troops through the battle with minimal casualties. And, right now, though it seems peaceful around here, the humans are waging war in New America, and I'm worried it might somehow boil over to Mobotropolis here and the surrounding area. If the human's war makes it down here, who better to help us defend ourselves than someone who knows their weaknesses than a human." The King said with a smile.  
"I guess you're right… when is mom going to get back from the Eastern quadrant? I'm beginning to miss her." Sally asked. Her mother, Queen Alicia Acorn, had traveled over to the Eastern quadrant to try to quell the growing tensions over their weakening economy. She was scheduled to be back in Acorn palace within ten days, though Sally was growing impatient waiting for her to come home. Sally's commencement ceremony was in two days and she badly wanted her mom to be there. King Acorn promised that if her mother were not there in person, he would broadcast it to where she was through the videophone network. The King took Sally's hand and led her back outside.  
"Sally, do not worry about anything. Leave that up to me… you go out and have fun playing with your friends. And, one way or another, the Queen will see your commencement." King Acorn said as he stood outside looking over the city and all its inhabitants. Sally gave him a hug before running off to play with her friends. Smiling, the King sat down on the steps and was joined shortly by Rosie.  
"Ye seem troubled, your Majesty. What be the problem?" Rosie asked in her Eastern accent. King Max looked over at her and his smile faltered slightly. He sighed before explaining what was on his mind.  
"Rosie, I haven't been able to get in touch with Queen Alicia ever since the Mobians have started their revolt in the East. Julian's sudden appearance took my mind off it for a short time, but I'm worried… what if she became a casualty of their protests while over there on a peaceful mission? With Sally's commencement coming up in two days, it would break her heart if I couldn't get in touch with Alicia so she could at least see it. I'm not sure what I should do." King Max explained. Rosie thought about it for a minute and then replied,  
"'Tis matters like this that I wish I knew more 'bout. Sally's an intelligent child… if you try to hide th' truth from her, she'll figure it out in time. I think you should do what your heart tells you to. On a whim, where 'ave you contacted to try to find Queen Alicia?" Rosie asked.  
"I can't think of anyplace else that she would have gone without letting me know somehow. She went over to the Eastern quadrant to try to jump-start the trade route over there. I can't think of anyplace else she would have went." King Acorn said with a trace of resignation in his voice. Rosie reached over and took his hand.  
"I'm sure that she'll turn up sooner than ye might think." Rosie spoke in her most reassuring tone of voice.

The following night, Aaron took Samantha out on their first date. Having a small bundle of money, he did not worry about where she wanted to go out, though she still tried to pick someplace that would not break Aaron. He left the decision of where they went out to Sam who picked to go to the nearest Olive Garden. On Aaron's decision, they took the Lamborghini. Aaron was starting to get the feel for driving something as big as the car. After dinner, they went back to Aaron's house and got changed. Aaron had let her spend the night at his house while his parents were gone. Being that it was still early, Samantha had an idea.  
"Aaron, wanna go out and fully test the Lamborghini on the open road?" She asked. Aaron was a bit surprised that she would be the one to ask, because he was thinking the same thing.  
"Yeah, but I can't think of any roads that would be empty this time of day. You know of one?" Aaron asked while rifling through a drawer on his desk for a map.  
"Not right off hand, but I'm sure we could find one where we could get the car up to speed and see what it does. I do know of a couple long stretches of highway that don't see lots of traffic. Right here, and here." She said as she pointed to two stretches of highway, one of them twenty miles long and the other over forty miles in length. Aaron nodded his head and led Sam back out to the garage.  
"Found something else after I pulled in here last night… there's a safe built into the wall. After messing with it for a few minutes, I managed to get it open. Inside it were these two green crystals the size of my head." Aaron said as he pointed to the crystals, which were sitting on the workbench. "As far as I can tell, these are sized for those boxes in the backseat. I haven't tried to put them in there yet, but I'm pretty sure they're 'sposed to go in the car." He finished. Samantha was peering at the smaller of the two green crystals with a magnifying glass. She picked one up and set it down immediately wringing her hands.  
"Something wrong?"  
"Yeah… I got a shock from it when I picked it up." Samantha replied. Aaron came over to the workbench and dug through the clutter until he found a voltmeter. Setting it to the highest resistance setting, he touched the prongs to the crystal and watched as the needle buried itself off the scale.  
"I'll be damned… they generate electricity. And a lot of it too if this is right." Aaron said, setting the meter to the highest voltage setting.  
"Aaron, could you not swear around me?"  
"Huh? Oh… sorry about that. I'm not one for colorful language usually." Aaron answered. He made a mental note to not swear or play any rap music around Sam.  
"It's okay… it just brings up bad memories, that's all. Things that I want to forget about." Sam added. Aaron nodded, and after deciding that the incident with his swearing was done, he walked over to the car and made a careful examination of the boxes in the backseat. He called back over to Samantha,  
"Could you give me a rough measure of the crystals? If I'm not off my mark, I think they go in these boxes." Samantha wrote down a rough measure of both of them and brought it over to Aaron along with a tape measure. Aaron opened both boxes and measured the prongs that were fitted inside the boxes.  
"Yep… I think I'm right; the green crystals fit into these boxes. I just can't figure out what they're for. Let's put them in the car and see what happens." Aaron said as he grabbed a rag and carefully carried the larger one over to the car. After carefully setting it in the box, he went over and got the second and fit it in its receptacle. After shutting the boxes, they both backed away from the car just in case something happened. Nothing happened.  
"Maybe all they do is generate electricity to support the computers and recharge the battery. It's a possibility." Sam offered. Aaron thought for a few seconds.  
'A car with a sophisticated computer system, an over-sized engine and two crystals that generate their own electricity… what's the connection?' He thought to himself.  
"Maybe they do something once the car's running… some kind of energy cell or extra propulsion system. I say we take it out on the open road and see what it can do. Maybe that'll answer our questions." Sam suggested. Aaron agreed and soon they were making their way to the highways that Sam had mentioned.

"Sir! News from our outposts… it appears the Overlanders' battle is heading this way! They've been spotted crossing the Mobian Badlands a little over two hours ago. What should we do?" Sergeant Quill exclaimed as he ran all-out into the King's chambers. The King looked up from the scroll he was writing.  
"Get Warlord Julian and have him meet me in the Grand Conservatory. We must defend our territory." King Acorn said as he put the scroll in its case and the case back on the shelves with the rest of them. A few minutes later, Julian met with the King in the Conservatory.  
"Sire… I heard that you wanted to speak with me." Julian said, bowing slightly as was custom.  
"Julian, a situation has come up. It appears the Overlanders are moving their battle closer to Mobotropolis. Can you organize a military in a short amount of time?" King Acorn asked Julian.  
"Yes, sir… I believe I can. I'll get on it immediately. Anything else, your Majesty?" Julian asked, as he got ready to head back to his labs.  
"One more thing… any word on what happened to Kodos and Ixis Naugus, the former Warlord and his wizard?" King Acorn asked, walking towards Julian. Julian had some idea of what had happened to them, though he would not tell the King. Julian, upon becoming official Warlord, found some documents that Kodos had left. Maps and schematics of the castle detailing a plan to overthrow the King and crown when the time was right. Kodos had also left a number of devices in the labs. Devices that would have been used to oust the King had Kodos not vanished. Built into the walls of the lab was a portal of some sort. According to the documents, Kodos had built it with the assistance of Ixis Naugus in order to dispose of anyone who should oppose them. After the information about the portal in the wall, the scrolls abruptly stopped.  
"No word, sire. I've been going through the lab looking for anything they may have left behind and haven't found anything yet. I'll keep looking after I assemble a military." Julian answered. "One question, your Majesty… can I bring my nephew here to Mobotropolis? He won't be any trouble and I'll need a hand in building a military." The King seemed to think for a second before answering.  
"Yes, I suppose it would be alright. With his help, how soon do you think you could build your military?"  
"Sire, with my nephew Snively helping me with it, I should have them assembled, trained and ready for the battle field by tomorrow night. I'll send word for him to be transported down here as soon as possible. Thank you, King Acorn." Julian said, and with a small bow, left the castle and went back to his labs. Once there, he booted up the videophone and placed a call to his labs back in New America where Snively would be waiting. Julian got hold of his nephew and arranged for transport for Snively to Mobotropolis as soon as possible. Within the hour, Julian's nephew had arrived. At once, they set to work on recruiting troops to form the army that would wage war against the Overlanders if and when they reached the city.

"Okay, Sam… This one looks about as empty and as flat as anything. Buckle up… this is gonna be one fast ride!" Aaron said as he pushed the accelerator to the floor. The car jumped from standing still up to one hundred miles per hour in zero seconds and rapidly gained speed. Aaron relayed the speed to Sam, who was busy watching the readouts on her display panel. They were mostly silent as they raced to the top speed of the car.  
"You feel that?" Samantha asked. Aaron glanced over at her and shook his head 'No'. "Exactly. There's none of the usual G-forces. At speeds like this, we should be pressed flat against our seats, but we're not!" Sam observed. Aaron leaned forward and noticed it too. With all the street races that he had been involved with in some way in the past, Aaron knew about the affect the G-forces had on someone when they were going at high speed.  
"Must be something in the car avoiding the G's. Okay… coming up on seven hundred miles per hour! What're the readings show?" Aaron asked, only chancing a split-second glance over at Sam.  
"From what this says, the engine is nearing ninety percent power. How fast you think this thing can go?" Sam asked, a little concerned about what would happen if they were to get into an accident at speeds this great.  
"No idea… that's why I wanted to come out here and try this. The first sign of trouble let me know." Aaron said as he went back to driving silently. Sam could not understand why Aaron would want to push a car like this one to its limits; from what they could tell by just looking at the engine, the car should only have been able to make five-hundred miles per hour before endangering the engine and possibly their lives. Now, the car was gliding along at seven hundred and five miles per hour. As they neared seven hundred twenty miles per hour, the engine shut down.  
"Aaron… what're you doing?" Samantha asked, studying the information on the screen in front of her.  
"I didn't do anything… it just shut off! What's it show over there?" Aaron asked as he prepared to stop the car. Sam tapped through the screens of data.  
"According to this, nothing's wrong. Hold on… hear that?" Sam asked as she strained to listen. The display in front of her changed to a computer animation showing what had happened. From what the animation showed, the regular engine had shut down and four electric motors had taken over as the drive system. The smaller of the crystals started glowing brighter than it was back in Aaron's garage. Once the electric motors were fully activated, the car underwent another change; the car lengthened by ten feet and a cone extended from the front end of the car. As soon as the car finished going through its changes, it continued to accelerate. Sam and Aaron were amazed by what the car had done.  
"Aaron, don't you think we're going fast enough already? We've already broken the sound barrier once and we're close to doing it again!" Sam asked, obviously worried. They were now gliding along at almost one thousand four hundred miles per hour and still climbing. On reaching one thousand five hundred miles per hour, the second crystal started glowing brightly as the tip of the cone that had extended from the front started glowing white. As they passed fifteen hundred miles per hour, a bolt of electricity shot from the tip of the cone and hit something solid in front of the car where it spread out.

(End of Chapter 3)


	6. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Paradise

Under Julian's direction, the troops that he had assembled waged war against the advancing Overlanders. According to the oldest existing scrolls, which were kept in the castle library, no Mobian was to ever hurt another Mobian for any reason. Thus, Julian's troops all carried non-lethal weapons such as paintballs, slingshots, and sleeping gas grenades. The Overlanders had more troops than the Mobians did, but the Mobians had Julian on their side. As fast as the war came to them, it was over with. Julian was able to force the Overlanders to withdraw, but not before there were some injuries. Jules Hedgehog, along with those in his family, and anyone else who was able-bodied who were old enough fought in the war. Jules suffered from a broken leg and arm while the majority of the rest who fought suffered from minor injuries, mostly cuts, bruises, and scrapes. Jules' brother, Charles, immediately went back to work on his invention. If completed and tested successfully, it would prove to be a medical breakthrough; he had designed it to rebuild an injured person's injury making it mechanical. While Charles worked on finishing his invention, Julian approached the King and announced his plan to dismantle the military, as he saw no reason to keep it going since the war had been won.  
"Jules, I should have my Roboticizer completed by tomorrow. I just need to test it a couple times and make sure it's working right." Charles said as he led his brother back to his hut. Jules was father to Sonic Hedgehog, the fastest runner in the village. Sonic had been born five years ago, but he had learned to run faster than anyone in Mobotropolis before he could walk. Unknown to Charles Hedgehog, Julian had been watching him work on the Roboticizer. Jules had successfully roboticized a flower and a Mobian Trout and, convinced that it would work as planned, had went back to his hut for the night. Once he was sure that the hedgehog inventor was asleep, Julian stalked from shadow to shadow until he reached Julian's workshop. Once he reached the lab, he snuck inside as quietly as possible and set about inspecting the old hedgehog's work. After taking extensive notes and making a few adjustments, Julian went back to his hut and, quietly laughing to himself, fell asleep for the night.  
The next day, Charles was up at the crack of dawn and immediately went to work making sure his machine was ready and that nothing would go wrong during the process. Once he was sure that it was ready, he went and woke up his brother and Sonic's father Jules.  
"Today's the day, my friend… together, we'll make history! The machine is ready and calibrated… all I need is you and it'll be over with. You'll be healthy again and broken limbs will be fixed with the simple flick of a switch instead of months of slow healing." Charles said as he led Jules back to his lab where the Roboticizer stood. Standing as tall as the ceiling, the machine did not look like much; a six-foot tall glass tube topped by some odd-looking machinery and a multitude of tubes and hoses and cables running to a nearby bank of computers. The whole contraption rested on a metal base inside which encased more electronic nonsense that no one else other than Jules knew what its purpose was. Without a word, Jules slowly climbed the stairs to the tube and got inside it. Jules was nervous; his brothers' invention tested out with a plant and a fish, but he still could not help having a feeling that something like this was better left to natural means of healing. Jules hobbled up the platform and took his place inside the glass cylinder. Charles slid the glass tube in place and started warming the machine up. Within a matter of seconds the machine was ready.  
"Jules, I'm about to throw the switch. In a matter of seconds, you'll be fine as your son's quills!" Charles said through the one-way intercom he installed between the control panel and the machine. Jules gave a weak thumbs-up to Charles in reply. Charles revved the generator up and started the countdown. Once the generator was at full power and the countdown was complete, the machine started up.  
The inside of the tube filled with a non-poisonous gas and the air around the machine filled with static electricity as it worked. The inside view of the glass tube was obscured by a misty-looking smoke as it had when Charles had tested it on the flower and the Mobian Trout. Within a matter of seconds, the displays on the readout indicated that the process was done. Charles walked over, cut the power to it, and opened the tube.

On opening their eyes, Sam and Aaron found themselves on a road that seemed to be suspended in mid-space. All around them were planets of varying sizes and colors. Aaron brought the car to a stop on the road and opened the door.  
"Aaron! What're you doing? You'll get sucked out!" Sam screamed at him. Aaron poked his head out as quickly as possible and then pulled his head back in and closed the door. He looked at Sam and said,  
"There's air out there. The road appears to just float in space suspended on nothin', but there's air. I'm gonna try to step out onto the road… it's got my curiosity going." Aaron opened his door again and wrapped his seatbelt around his hand in case he did fall and slid out of the car. As he got his feet almost level with the road the car was on, the road expanded to provide adequate ground for Aaron to stand on. Letting go of the seatbelt, he walked around so he was in front of the car. Aaron jumped twice and landed as hard as he could on it. The road had a little give to it, almost as if it was made of a stiff rubber-like material. Aaron turned around so he was facing the car and motioned for Sam to come out and join him. She opened her door, but did not get out right away. She reached her hand down and brought it within an inch of the road, which expanded so her hand would not go over the edge of it. Once satisfied that she would not fall off the edge, she got out of the car and walked over to where Aaron was standing.  
"Aaron… this can't be possible. Something like this can't exist; it's impossible! A long road that goes no place and that is suspended in space by nothing can't exist! If it's real… how'd we get here? In a car? How would you explain that to someone?" Samantha asked Aaron. Aaron just shook his head and started walking back to the car.  
"I don't know… but I think we should continue heading straight ahead incase there happens to be answers ahead someplace." Aaron said as he climbed back into the car. When the car had morphed into its longer and faster state, several extra gauges had appeared in the instrument cluster. After checking them to make sure they were still within the marked limits, Aaron turned the car on and listened as the electric motors, which were still engaged, sped up to full speed. Once the gauge for them showed they were ready, Aaron shifted into 'Drive' and they sped down the road. After driving for another forty minutes, they came to a signpost and Aaron stopped to take a look at it.  
"Sam… What do ya think a signpost would be doing in the middle of nowhere?" Sam looked up from the display in front of her where she had been searching for some kind of map, and saw the signpost.  
"No clue. Think one of us should get out and take a look at it?" Sam asked. Aaron nodded and got out of the car, again pausing to let the road expand to allow him to stand on it. He half-walked/half-jogged up to the sign and could not believe what he saw on it.  
The sign was large, painted black with white lettering on it. Each of the signs pointed to a separate branch in the road ahead of them. From top to bottom, the signs were each written in some language that Aaron could not read. There were three that he could read right away; one sign appeared to be written in Klingon and there were two that were written in English that pointed straight ahead and one that pointed in the direction that they had just come from. They read Mobius and Earth, with the Earth sign pointing towards where they had just come from and the Mobius one pointing straight ahead. Aaron recognized the name Mobius from a video game he had back home: Sonic the Hedgehog. Walking back to the car, Aaron relayed his findings to Sam, who was still looking through the computers trying to find some kind of map in them.  
"There're only two signs I can read; one pointing back to Earth and one pointing to Mobius. There's a third that looks like Klingon and the rest of them don't look like anything I've seen. I say we head to Mobius and check it out. If nothing else, it should give us a place to turn around and get back on here headin' in the right direction." Aaron explained. Sam looked at Aaron.  
"You wanna just go to a strange planet; a planet that no one's ever been to and ask them if we can turn around in the middle of their city? You have any idea how crazy that sounds?" Sam asked him. They just looked at each other for a few more seconds before Sam spoke up again, "At least, can I make a sketch of the signpost? I wanna at least have some kind of record that we were here." Sam said. Aaron pulled the car up closer to the sign and Sam hopped out with a pad of paper and a drawing pencil from her backpack. She walked up to the sign and started drawing out all the languages on it and their signs and which way they pointed. After about twenty minutes, she came back to the car and they were off to Mobius. As fast as the car was, it still took them near two hours to make the journey there.  
"Sam… We're almost there! Be prepared for anything." Aaron said as he slowed the car as he neared where the road came to an end on the planet's surface.

The entire village heard the screams of Sir Charles Hedgehog.  
"For the love of Mobius… no!" At once, Charles ran over to what had been his brother and tried to talk to it. After only a couple minutes of trying to speak with the now-roboticized Jules, Charles finally broke down sobbing in his lab. He cried for what seemed like hours, and when he was done, it was already night. After locking up his labs and nailing the doors shut, Charles wandered around the forest lost in thought for the rest of the night.  
"What have I done? The machine tested perfect with the flower and the trout… what went wrong?" He kept repeating to himself as he wandered around the Kingdom in the moonlight. Finally, nearing exhaustion, Charles came to an old shop that had been abandoned for what looked like years. He recognized it as having belonged to a certain rabbit couple a couple years back. They had been two of the Mobians lost in the Great War. No one seemed to know what happened to their daughter, Bunnie; some thought she had simply run away while others believed that another couple without children had adopted her. Charles thought then to give up on being a scientist and open the chili dog stand that his nephew had tried talking him into many times before. His nephew, Sonic, was the biggest fan of his chili dogs and Charles knew that Sonic would be so happy that his Uncle finally decided to open the long-dreamt of chili dog stand. Now totally worn-out from the hours of wandering through the forest and city, Charles finally fell asleep sitting on a stool with his head resting on his arms.  
When he woke up the next morning, it was already late afternoon and the day's activities were drawing to a close. Coming from Castle Acorn, he could hear the King's daughter and what sounded like his nephew, Sonic, arguing over something. This brought both a smile to his face and tears to his eyes for he had not broken the news to Sonic or his mother yet. Knowing that it would be near impossible to bring himself to do so, let alone try to explain it to a five year old, he kept trying to push it out of his mind and set about trying to clean up the small building he was still in.  
Inside the castle, King Acorn was busy with a video call from MegaCentral, the capital of New America.  
"King Acorn, what has become of my missing scientist? Any word from him?" President Monroe asked. King Max was hesitant to reply for fear that he would be forced to send his newly instated Warlord away.  
"No word yet, President. I've had my finest men searching the woods, but there hasn't been any sign of him yet. You'll be the first to know if we find him." King Max said, trying to sound as sincere as possible.  
"Good, good. I can't afford to have any deserters on the loose. Any word on your wife, Queen Alicia?" The President asked. King Acorn sighed and then replied,  
"No word yet. I've called every place I can think of and then some. No one has seen her at all. I'm beginning to worry… if something happened to her…" The King trailed off, not wanting to speak the words that had troubled his sleep for the past four nights. He had been forced to celebrate his daughter's Royal Commencement without his wife present the day before the War abruptly began and ended a mere twelve hours after beginning on their territory.  
"King Max, don't worry… I'm sure she's fine. She'll be home before you know it… I'm positive. King Acorn, I'm sorry but I must go… my kids are calling for me and I think dinners almost ready here. I'll call you if I hear anything about your wife."  
"And, I'll contact you if I hear anything about your missing scientist. Thank you, President Monroe." The President nodded before disconnecting the call. King Acorn sat where he was for a couple minutes lost in thought. Once his head cleared and he had reassured himself that nothing bad had happened to his wife, he walked outside.

As the car came out of the portal that had opened up in front of the vehicle, Aaron and Sam were speechless. They had prepared for anything except what lay in front of them; they had come out of the portal in the middle of a town of humans and Earth-like buildings. Aaron stopped the car where it was and stared in disbelief.  
"Sam… It looks like we're in downtown Manhattan or something! If I didn't know we just traveled a couple million miles, I wouldn't know we left Earth!" Aaron said while staring up through the sloped windshield at the tall buildings that loomed overhead. Out of the corner of his eye, Aaron saw the person in a futuristic police uniform approaching the car.  
"Aaron… looks like we have company. Should we get out of the car?" Sam asked, looking out through the drivers' side window at the officer-type being approaching them. Aaron nodded and they both opened their doors and got out of the car. The officer came up to them.  
"You should know that this is a pollution-free zone. I'm afraid I'll have to impound your car until President Monroe can see you." The officer said through his helmet. Aaron and Sam looked at each other before Sam spoke.  
"The car is electric. We're new here… from Earth. Somehow, we all of a sudden ended up here." Sam spoke up. The police officer raised his visor. Aaron and Sam were totally confused because underneath the helmet and the uniform was a human of no more than forty years of age.  
"Would it be possible to talk to the President?" Aaron asked. The officer just plucked his radio from his belt and contacted the President's secretary, who also served as dispatch for the police officers. He called into her that he had two people who wanted to talk to the President and she called into the President. After a short pause she radioed back to the officer to show them in. After some walking, Aaron and Sam were shown to the Presidential offices. Once inside, a jolly-looking man in his late fifties greeted them.  
"Hello… hello. You must be the newcomers. Welcome to MegaCentral, New America. I'm President Vincent Monroe." The President said as he shook hands with Aaron and Samantha.  
"Yes, we are. I'm Samantha and this is Aaron. We just got here from Earth in Aaron's car and thought we'd stop in and ask a couple questions." Samantha explained in short as she and Aaron were directed to two comfortable-looking chairs in front of the President's desk.  
"Would you like something to drink? Mobian coffee? Tea?" The President asked as he walked over to a wall that turned out to be a fridge. Sam asked for a coffee while Aaron just asked for a glass of water. He came back with a cup of sweet-smelling coffee and a glass of the cleanest water Aaron had ever seen.  
"This is delicious coffee, Mr. President. We don't mean to impose on you or anything, we just ended up here, and headed for the nearest town we saw. How did humans end up here?" Samantha asked as she sipped her coffee. To her, it was almost like a sweet espresso but it was not as strong.  
"Well, back in the nineteen-seventies by Earth time, about an eighth of the population you see outside were flying from Miami, Florida to the Bermuda Islands when we suddenly ended up here. Our best guess is that we flew into the Bermuda Triangle on accident and it acted as some sort of gateway and we ended up here. Our jetliner crashed into Mt. Mobius south of here and the Mobian King was kind enough to help us get it out of there and provide us with enough supplies to start our cozy little city. And, after about thirty Earth years, this is the result." He said as he motioned around the room.  
"Haven't you guys tried to get back to Earth or at least send word that you're here?" Aaron asked.  
"We did launch a space mission a few years back; we launched four astronauts towards the stars in hopes that at some point, they'll drift into Earth orbit. The last signal we got from them was five years ago and as best we could figure, they were nearing the edge of this solar system. I guess all we can do is wait and see what happens." President Monroe said. "If you kids would like, I can put you up in our best hotel."  
"Thank you, Mr. President, but we're only here for a short time. Aaron's car can make it back to Earth overnight and we're looking forward to getting back to Earth. But, if you could… could you give us directions to the Mobian King and his territory?" Sam asked.  
"Of course. Is there any way that you could take a few of us back with you when you head back?" President Monroe asked as he dug through his desk for a piece of paper.  
"I'm afraid not… my car only has room enough for two people. If I had the room, I would." Aaron answered as he got the directions from the President. "Thank you, sir. Oh, and where's the nearest stretch of road? We'll need it to make it back."  
"Uh… the longest road around here is north of here. It's an old highway leading to the northern city of Megalopolis. When you get back to Earth, will you make sure to let everyone know that Flight One-eighty-two is safe and sound on a distant planet?" President Monroe asked as he walked them to the door.  
"Absolutely! Thank you, Mr. President!" Aaron said as he and Sam walked from the building to Aaron's car, which was still parked where he had left it, though it was surrounded by a group of people who had obviously never seen anything like it.  
"Okay, Sam… Let's get going and visit this King. It's a ways down there from what he said." Aaron said as they got in the car and started it up. After about an hour of driving, they came to a forest surrounding where they planned to go. Getting out of the car, they walked the rest of the way into the Kingdom. They made it as far as the border of the city before they saw something that neither of them could explain. Animals that walked on their hind legs and lived in small houses inhabited the Kingdom. Afraid of what might happen if they were seen, Aaron and Samantha hid in the shadows until they reached the castle. After some quick discussion on their part, Aaron and Sam decided it best not to just walk in there and make themselves known. Instead, they hid behind one of the pillars that made up the palace gardens and observed the people. In the middle of the courtyard were two young children fighting about something.  
"I'm smarter than you!" The young girl said.  
"Sez who?" The young boy who was arguing with the young girl asked.  
"I say!"  
"You say?"  
"Yeah!" The girl shot back. "I do!" The King walked up. The children stopped as the King approached them.  
"What seems to be the problem, Sonic and Sally?" The King asked.  
"Nothing important, daddy!" Sally naively said.  
"Nossir! We were just having fun!" Sonic added.  
"I see." King Acorn replied, a little confused.  
"I hate to interrupt, King Acorn. But, I have matters of urgent importance to discuss!" A stranger said from the shadows.  
"Ah, Warlord Julian Kintobar! I've been looking for you. Run along, children! We'll settle this later." The King said as he motioned for the kids to leave him and Warlord Julian alone.  
"Come on, Sal! Last one to the tree house is a rotten chilidog!" Sonic told Sally as she followed a short distance behind.  
"We've a reception tonight!" The King said.  
"A reception, Sire?" Julian asked.  
"Yes, I'm announcing your appointment as Minister of Science. I've also approved your plans for dismantling the military! Implementation may begin at once!" King Acorn was looking to get rid of the military that Julian Kintobar had built up and now that they had won the Great War, he had no need for a military.  
"Of course, Sire!" Julian attentively said. In the back of his mind, he kept thinking how great of an opportunity this was. He had plans, but he had to wait with them until the time was right.  
"One more thing… it is imperative that the transition proceed immediately. I'm confident you're more than up to the task, Warlord Julian." King Acorn said.  
"Better than you know, Sire."  
"Very good! I'll see you tonight, then!" The King said as he headed towards the door.  
"Alert the troops to be ready for my signal, Snively!" Julian said to his short assistant who stood to Julian's side in the shadows.  
"Just say the word, Sir!" Snively said. In his hand, Snively held a small remote control of sorts. On it was one button; one button that would unleash the attack that had for so long been planned and redrawn.  
"The word is given, Snively… Commence attack… now!" At his mark, Snively pushed the button and Julian's army marched into the city from just beyond its border. At first glance, they appeared to be normal troops. But as they got closer, Sonic could tell that something was not right about them. Beyond the castle walls, an airship could be seen landing.  
"Sal… it's like the war is starting up again! But, I've never seen troops like these!" Sonic said in awe. Sonic and Sally had been just a year old at the time of the first Great War and had been told all about it in school and had read about it. From what either could remember, these troops were very much unlike the troops that marched in the Great War.  
"What do they want, Julayla?" Sally asked.  
"As I'm at a loss to explain this, I think it better that we return to the palace and find Rosie, my dear!" Julayla, the Princesses mentor, said, "I'm sure the King is aware of the situation!" A startled King looked onward as Julian approached him. In the background, the airship had unloaded dozens of SWATbots and other robotic troops.  
"Julian! What's going on here?" The King asked. The royal guards of the King started to approach but were held back by a wall of the robots.  
"Your Majesty… members of the royal courts… I've now assumed control! Henceforth, what was once known as Mobotropolis will now be Robotropolis, the capitol of my kingdom! My army of SWATbots have struck simultaneously at various key points all over the kingdom, virtually halting any chance of any resistance!" Julian said to the King, "That could change, however, if the royal subjects were to rally around the King and crown!" King Acorn had been raised to never give up and he had no plans to give up now no matter how bad it seemed.  
"Give it up, Julian! You can't succeed!" The King exclaimed.  
"The name is no longer Julian! From this day forward, I am Robotnik! As for you, King Acorn, I hereby banish you to The Zone Of Silence… forever!" Robotnik evilly cackled. Julayla, who had been standing on the balcony of her classroom gasped as she heard the words that Robotnik had spoken, carried in on the wind.  
"Have you no honor, Julian? No sense of responsibility or loyalty?" The King asked.  
"Oh, but I do! I have a responsibility to restore order from chaos!" Robotnik said, "And, with the aid of my latest discovery, I have the means necessary to carry out my plans! SWATbot, bring me the creator of this device, Sir Charles Hedgehog!" Robotnik turned to Charles, "After making a few changes to it, I will control the planet!" Charles then turned to the King.  
"Sire, I made it so if someone breaks a leg or arm, I can roboticize that limb, but after Julian stole it and tampered with the controls, it completely roboticized my brother! You killed my brother!" Charles finished, turning to Robotnik.  
"Now, you may join your brother in my army of robots! The machine will transform any living creature into a mindless robot, free to obey my every command and order!"  
"Sally, Sonic, Julayla, Rosie run for your lives! Escape from this place!" The King shouted to the others. "This is Monstrous!" He said as he turned back to Robotnik. They boarded the airship, which flew them back to Ivo's labs. Inside the largest was housed the Zone Of Silence.  
"That depends on your point of view! In my version, you are the enemy and must be eliminated for the good of all!" Robotnik said.  
"No matter how long it takes, Julian, somehow I will stop you!" The previous Warlord had a lackey who was a powerful wizard. Using his magic and the tactical knowledge of Warlord Kodos, Ixis Naugus and Warlord Kodos had created the Zone Of Silence; a zone where sound failed to reverberate and light had no meaning. Kodos had an obsession with weapons of destructive power and had made several various weapons until his sudden disappearance just days before Robotnik was instated as Warlord. Once Warlord, Robotnik had discovered all the marvelously destructive weapons and gadgets that Kodos and Ixis had left behind; including the Zone, which at that time was contained within a wall.  
"Courageous words Sire! But, where you are going that won't be possible! Open the portal! May I present to you The Zone Of Silence! Impressive, isn't it? Be sure to give Ixis Naugus, its inventor and Kodos, your former warlord, my regards! An unsafe journey, my once and former King!"  
"I'll get you, Julian!" The King said as he was tossed into the Zone as if he was a scrap of paper thrown out a window.

(End of Chapter 4)


	7. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 The Escape

Sally, Julayla, Sonic and Rosie fled the castle through its network of tunnels and passageways and eventually ended up someplace deep within the Great Forest. Once they got outside of the door, they made sure to cover it with twigs, handfuls of grass and anything else they could find. Once they were sure that their escape path was concealed and after taking a careful look to make sure that Doctor Robotnik had not followed them somehow, only then did they dare say anything.  
"Sally, do you remember the way to the retreat?" Julayla asked. They were all a bit winded from running down the stairs through the castle into the basement and down through the dark tunnels leading from the basement of the castle to where they stood. While catching her breath, Sally looked around at where they were trying to get her bearings.  
"No idea… I've never been out this way. I know its behind the castle, but I've no clue where we are. I'd need to see which side of the castle we're on before saying." Sally said after thinking for a few moments. Sonic had sat down on a fallen log and was joined shortly by the others. They looked at the ground for a few seconds before anyone spoke up.  
"Wait… the sun sets in the west, right? If we wait about forty-five minutes more, it should be setting. I remember the retreat was south of the castle… if we can wait long enough…" Sally started to say, but stopped when she was finally overcome by the reality of what had happened. Sally collapsed on the log and into Julayla's arms crying. Julayla held Sally in her arms and felt herself starting to cry, as did Sonic and Rosie. Sally cried until she could not anymore and finally opened her eyes. To her surprise, she found that Sonic and Rosie had fallen asleep curled up on the ground. Julayla was still awake and was gently rocking Sally singing quietly. She started a bit when Sally went to sit up.  
"How long did I cry?" Sally asked as she sat up. Julayla wiped away her own tears, and finished the song she was singing before answering.  
"A couple hours, at least. Sonic and Rosie fell asleep out of exhaustion about an hour ago. The sun set over that way." She said as she pointed behind them, "Sally, I'm sorry about all this. There's no one who could have prevented it from happening. The important thing right now is we get out of here and get to someplace familiar. I knew which way the retreat was, but I wanted to test your direction sense. I didn't mean to bring reality back so soon." Julayla said, but stopped when Sally placed a hand on her arm.  
"I understand… you wanted to test me and ended up helping me get some of the sadness out. I'll wake up Sonic and Rosie… I can guide us and Sonic can help get around the forest in the dark." Sally said as she walked over to where Sonic and Rosie were laying. As gently as she could she managed to get both of them to wake up and they started the trek through the darkened forest. After almost an hour of walking, they finally reached their destination.  
Few Mobians had ever heard of Knothole, and fewer still knew its precise location. That knowledge had been reserved for a handful of members of the King's court. The idea of an alternate command post had occurred to King Acorn and several of his advisors during the Great War, at a time when there was a very real threat to the safety of Mobotropolis. Yet with the easing of that threat, the King appeared to lose interest in the concept.  
He began to conceive of the proposed royal redoubt in the peacetime role of a retreat, a protected place where he, his family, and selected members of the court could go to get a different perspective on things or simply to relax. Taking only a few into his confidence, he suggested modifications in the already secret project.  
While the King was to be credited with the location of the site, it was Sir Charles Hedgehog who had planned the site as a base of operations, and then modified the plans for more peaceful purposes once the tide of battle had turned. The layout and planning of Knothole was more to Charles' taste than the war work that had kept him busy and that had earned him his knighthood.  
Knothole had many things going for it even before the first pieces of timber were joined together. Located deep in the Great Forest in a slight depression, it was amply covered by foliage so as to be virtually invisible from the air. There were several small clearings within walking distance that could act as landing sites for hover units. There was farmable land close by and a river ran along the site. Access to it through the Great Forest was almost impossible unless one was aware of the network of trails and paths that would take one to it. To bring any ground vehicle to the site was impossible; it could only be reached on foot.  
This, as much as Charles' own aesthetics, dictated that the design for Knothole be one of rustic simplicity. As much of the material as possible would come from the Great Forest itself, with some items brought to the site from the city. Work had progressed to the point where half a dozen huts of various sizes were finished as the Great War drew to a close.  
Sally was the first one up well after sunrise and was surprised when she found that there were two more Mobians in Knothole. Sally recognized one of them right away, while the other seemed familiar to her. Before doing anything else, she ran to the hut she had slept in with Sonic, Julayla, and Rosie and woke the three up. Rosie came out first followed by Sonic and Julayla.  
"Children, how did you find this place?" Rosie asked, walking up to the two children who were standing in front of one of the huts.  
"Eet was me who led we to here." The young coyote dressed as if he were a royal guard said. It took a few seconds for Rosie to realize he was speaking with a decidedly French accent, meaning he had at least learned to speak in the French quarter of Mobius.  
"Uh huh… we're real sorry about intruding like this, but we didn't know where else to go." The young walrus said. Rosie thought for a few seconds before saying anything else.  
"It's quite alright. What are your names?"  
"I'm Rotor and this is Antoine. We came from Mobotropolis after… you know… after it happened. We hid in the woods until it was night and stumbled across this place in the dark." Rotor explained. Rosie nodded.  
"Well, come on then… let's get something to eat before we starve. Then, we'll talk more." She said as she led the two children back to where Sally and Sonic stood with Julayla. Sally recognized the coyote as being the son of one of her father's royal guardsmen.  
"Sally, this is Rotor and Antoine. They escaped from the city after the takeover." Rosie said as she brought the two children before Princess Sally. Antoine bowed down on one knee before the Princess, as was tradition in the Kingdom. She had seen many of her father's visitors do the same thing when entering and exiting rooms that the King was present in. Rotor was confused at this gesture, as he had never seen anyone of any royal status before. Instead of bowing on one knee, he simply reached out to shake hands with Sally and Sonic. Sally and Sonic shook hands with Rotor and Sally let Antoine know that he need not bow to her.  
"And, this is Sonic… he's a friend of mine from the city. I believe you two have already met Rosie and this is Julayla." Sally finished. She was not sure how to respond to someone bowing before her as Antoine had done. She had not gotten around to learning how to respond when someone did that from her father before Robotnik overthrew him. Finally, after a few seconds of awkward silence, Julayla spoke up.  
"Well, seeing as we know each other now, we should find something to eat so we don't starve. Sonic… will you go down and get some fresh water from the stream over there? Antoine and Rotor, will you help Rosie get the kitchen in order? And, Sally… will you help me find something to eat?" Julayla asked. They all nodded in agreement before setting off to do their assigned jobs. Sonic went around the small village looking for a suitable jug that would hold water, Antoine and Rotor went with Rosie into the kitchen to help get it set up for its first meal and Sally went with Julayla to find something to eat.  
"Sally, I know how awkward this must be to you, but just do your best. This isn't easy for any of us… we all left behind our lives in the city and I can't even guess how long this will go on, but life will continue here as it did in the city." Julayla said as she and Sally picked berries and other assorted edible greens that they found growing close around the area of Knothole.  
"I know… it's going to be strange with Antoine around though. His father was one of my dad's personal guards… that and his treating me like I am royalty. I didn't know what to do when he bowed to me earlier… I barely even got started with learning my duties as Princess before all… this happened." Sally explained as she and Julayla walked back towards Knothole with lunch in tow. After a short informal lunch, Rosie and the others began work on finishing the huts and furnishing them with what they could. After crudely fashioning hammers and various tools from what was available, Rotor helped with finishing the huts and went for a swim in the river behind Knothole. While swimming, he came across some kind of device wedged in a crevice in the riverbed. From his estimates, the device had been there for months and no one had touched it since then. The device was about as tall as Rotor was and had some kind of receptacle at the top of it. When he got back to Knothole after his swim, he reported his finding to Sally and Rosie.  
"Rotor… did it look dangerous at all?" Sally asked.  
"Not at all… it looked like it was down there months before Robotnik… you know… before it all happened. I couldn't figure out what it did or anything… I'll go back down later to check it out." Rotor said as he dried himself off. At dinner that night, everyone sat around at the dinner table and tried to push the memories of what had happened out of conversation.  
Before his own capture, Charles had managed to arrange that a handful of children and two adults be secreted in Knothole. The two adults were women, staff members of the royal household. Rosie, nanny for the Princess Sally Alicia, was an obvious choice. Sally was, after all, heir to the Mobian throne and was a natural candidate to be hidden away in Knothole.  
The other adult had been recently retained to be Sally's tutor; an older feline named Julayla. She was reserved and, to those who did not know her, somewhat intimidating. What was intimidating was, in fact, her patience and circumspection. Unlike the open and affable Rosie, Julayla seemed at times to be playing a perpetual chess game; sizing up moves, reviewing and plotting strategy, seeking an overview of the situation. She let few have access to her mind and heart; eventually only Princess Sally would have that distinction, and she found Julayla to be as kind as she was wise, as tender as she was shrewd, as empathetic as she was observant. This complex character served as a balance to the simple straightforwardness of Rosie. Not that Sally or any of the other children could appreciate any of this when they first arrived in Knothole as refugees. For they had just seen their families and their world destroyed.  
They were a diverse group of children, all of them about five years old. Yet at first they reacted to their new situation in the same way. It began with a reluctance to talk about what had happened. The pain of watching the arrival of the SWATbots, of seeing parents, relatives and friends being captured and turned into soulless mechanical caricatures of what they had once been, was too much for their young minds. The children pushed the scenes from their consciousness by day, only to have the memories trouble their dreams at night. In the beginning, the woods around Knothole were filled in the evening with the sound of screaming as one or another of the children found themselves haunted by their dreams.  
Five days after Sally, Sonic, Julayla, Rosie, Rotor, and Antoine put the finishing touches on Knothole and decided to take up permanent residence in the village, one of Sally's friends from south of the former Mobotropolis, Bunnie, arrived at Knothole. Sally had told Bunnie about Knothole once while on a vacation to the Southern territories. Bunnie ran from the southern territory to Knothole after Robotnik sent an army of SWATbots armed with a smaller version of the Roboticizer that Sir Charles had built. She ran the three hundred miles to Knothole non-stop in near darkness. When she reached the village, it was just nearing sunrise. Not knowing what to do, she went to one of the huts and, curling up on the floor, fell asleep. In the morning, Sally happened upon Bunnie's sleeping form in the hut next to hers. Immediately, Sally recognized Bunnie and woke her friend from her sleep. On waking, Bunnie threw her arms around her best friend and they hugged for a few minutes. Sally let go of Bunnie's shoulders and held her at arms length away.  
"Bunnie, you haven't changed at all! It's been too long! How'd you get up here from down south?" Sally asked. Bunnie and the Princess sat down on the floor before Bunnie told Sally what had happened.  
"It started yesterday… some 'bots came into the city an' started bossin' us all around. I made it back into the forest behind my home down there and ran all the way up here. I shoulda stayed to try an' help mah folks get away." Bunnie said with tears in her eyes. Sally reached over and took Bunnie's hand.  
"You couldn't have done anything to help them… the same thing happened here." And Sally launched into telling her friend about what had happened to her father and the castle. They both cried for a couple minutes before Sally pulled herself together and suggested that Bunnie meet the others. So, after both of them wiped away the tears they had cried, Sally took Bunnie to the Mess Hall where the other children and the two adults were busy getting breakfast ready. Sally walked in, holding Bunnie's hand.  
"My… my… who is this young lady?" Julayla asked. Everyone else turned so they were looking in Bunnie and Sally's direction.  
"This is Bunnie… she's a friend of mine. I met her while mom, dad and I were on a vacation down south." Sally answered. She led Bunnie to the table and sat down next to Julayla while Bunnie sat down next to Rosie and Sonic.  
"Bunnie, I'm Julayla… mentor to Princess Sally. Sitting next to you are Rosie and Sonic, and next to Sonic is Rotor. Sitting next to me is Antoine. It's very nice to have you here in Knothole with us." Julayla said once she finished introducing the group of children and the one other adult at the table.  
"It's nice to meet y'all. Ah hope Ah'm not intrudin' or anythin'… ah just figgered this would be th' last place those 'bots would look for me." Bunnie said as she piled her plate with everything she could find. They all ate a hearty meal, and after cleaning up from breakfast, it was time for that days schooling session. She had assembled a collection of the most basic lessons she could from memory and from what books she had been able to get out of the remains of the castle. Doctor Ivo Robotnik had already begun to set up his base of operations where Castle Acorn had one stood, but had not gotten very far in the six days since he had ousted the King from the throne and effectively taken over.  
Once the day's lessons were over with, the children ran outside to play and enjoy the wonderful weather. Lately, they had taken to teasing Antoine about his heavy French accent. As night fell on Knothole, the children were herded back to the mess hall for dinner. Once that was done, they were left to burn off whatever energy they had left and then it was bedtime.

(End of Chapter 5)


	8. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Returning Home

After witnessing the King get overthrown, Aaron and Sam ran back to the car where they finally spoke. As they made their way back to the car, Aaron picked several leaves from various trees that he saw and put them in a small plastic bag when they made it to the car.  
"Aaron… what just happened? Who was that fat man? Was that the King we were going to see?" Sam asked as soon as they got the doors closed. Aaron had parked the car about half a mile from the Kingdom where the King had been. Once they were sure the car was safe, they made their way to the castle, which was clearly visible through the forest. On arriving at the castle, they had hidden behind one of the pillars that lined the palace gardens. After seeing and hearing the conversation between the King and the two children, they were both shocked when the fat man walked up and took over the city.  
"I think we just saw a King get overthrown… that was the King I wanted to see. The fat man, I think I know who it was, but I want to get back to Earth and check a couple things first. What you say to heading back right away?" Aaron asked, as he got ready to start the car. Sam nodded and then yawned.  
"Yeah… let's head back and when we get home, I'm gonna sleep for a week!" Sam yawned. Aaron started up the car as quietly as he could and sped towards the road President Monroe had told him about. Once on the highway, Aaron pressed the gas pedal as far as it would go and held it until the car jumped through the portal that it made. Once the car made it to the other side, Aaron brought the car to a stop. Sam looked over at Aaron.  
"What's wrong, Aaron? Leave something behind?" She asked. Aaron flipped through the events list on the display facing him.  
"Nothing's wrong… just strange. We didn't have to get going as fast we did earlier to get back to this road… coming from Earth, we had to get up to almost fifteen hundred miles per hour and just now, we only had to hit nine hundred. Just something worth noting, I guess. If you want, go ahead and nap… it'll be about two hours before we get back to Earth." Aaron said as he pressed the accelerator down again and sped down the road in front of them. In less than three hours, they came out of the portal on Earth. Once they came out of it, Aaron pulled the car over and woke Sam up. She woke with a start.  
"Sam, we're back. The road-thingy let us out almost in a store parking lot. Might as well get something while we're close to it. Anything you want from inside?" Aaron asked as he pulled up into the store's parking lot.  
"Umm… not really. Just something to eat and I'll be fine. But, I gotta go in… stretch my legs for a little bit. Shouldn't the car change back or somethin'?" Sam asked. Aaron was not sure; it had not changed back to normal while on Mobius. Once he pulled the car up in front of the store in the fire lane, he borrowed the display from Sam's side of the car and flipped through the various pages that it displayed. Eventually, Aaron found the main controls for the computer and, after trying various commands; he eventually initiated the morphing sequence.  
The locks holding the extensions in place let go and the electric motors pulled the extensions out of their places and back into the car, the cone that extended from the front of the car pulled back into the front-end of it. The final stage of the morphing sequence was the one that got everyone's attention; Aaron heard the electric motors power down and then disengage. After a pause of a couple seconds, the gasoline engine re-engaged and started back up. Aaron continued flipping through the digital controls until he found the command he was looking for. He disconnected the monitor and took it with him as he got out of the car.  
"Okay… it's done. Let's go in and find something to eat." Aaron said to Samantha as they got out of the car. Once they were out, the doors closed. Before walking into the store, Aaron punched in the commands to activate the door locks and security system. Once he was sure the security system was going, they walked into the store. They went and picked out a TV dinner and a couple other things, paid for them and then went back outside. They had only been in the store for a few minutes, but the car had already attracted quite a crowd. Ignoring all the questions being slung at him from every possible direction, he simply deactivated the security system and unlocked the doors. Once he and Sam were inside it, Aaron shifted into 'Drive' and sped off towards home.  
Once they made it back to Aaron's house, they made a quick dinner and sat around watching TV until they started to get tired. On the way to his room, Aaron suddenly remembered about the leaves he had picked up while they had been on Mobius. Aaron wanted to take them to a biologist friend of his and have his friend take a look at the leaves and try to determine if they were of any known species. He stopped in mid-stride down the hallway to his room and turned around and headed towards Sam's room.  
"Sam… I got something I gotta do." Aaron said through the door. Sam came and opened the door.  
"What's wrong? What'd you forget?" She asked. She had not changed to get ready for bed yet.  
"I almost forgot why I gathered a handful of leaves from Mobius the other day. I have a friend in biology and I was gonna have him take a look at them. I can just run them over to his office… he works at night. If you want, you can stay here and try to get some sleep." Aaron said as he checked to make sure he had the keys for the car.  
"I'll come with… I might get kinda lonely here. You gonna call him first or just show up there?" She asked as she slipped her shoes on and grabbed her coat. They both walked down to the garage, all the time talking about all the things they had seen on Mobius in the three hours they were there. They got to the car and drove to Professor Leif's office and lab. Once there, they walked up to the main office and walked in. Running around the lab tending to his various experiments was Aaron's friend, Professor Jacob Leif.  
"Hey Professor!"  
"Hey Aaron! What're you doing up so late? It's past eleven." Jacob said as he came around from behind a stack of biology journals.  
"I found something for you to look at… found some leaves that I don't know what they're from." Aaron said as he handed the baggie with the leaves in it to Jacob.  
"These look like regular, plain, old oak leaves… what's so special 'bout 'em?" Jacob asked as he set down his magnifying glass.  
"I know they're not oak leaves… take a closer look at 'em and tell me what you see." Aaron answered. Jacob dug out a sharp knife and cut a tiny section from one of the leaves and placed it on a slide and placed the prepared slide under the microscope.  
"If you already know it's not an oak leaf, what'd you bring them to me for?"  
"All I know is they aren't oak leaves… I have no clue what species or anything they are, I just know they aren't oak. All I'm asking is if you've ever seen anything like these." Aaron clarified. Professor Leif shook his head and then went back to the microscope. After a few seconds, he pulled his head away from the scope, switched lenses and started taking notes. After about a minute of writing and making notes, he finally looked back up at Aaron and Sam.  
"Where'd you get these from?" Jacob asked, looking totally confused.  
"That we can't say… though I can say that we didn't get'm from anyplace around here. But, they aren't from any known genus or anything?" Sam asked, finally speaking up.  
"Well, where ever you got these from, I'd love to see it sometime… they appear to be just like regular oak leaves, but the cell structure is all wrong; the cells resemble animal more than plant, though they do contain chlorophyll. Most peculiar… mind if I hang onto these samples and run some more tests?"  
"No, go right ahead." Sam answered. Jacob walked over and put the other leaves in deep freeze.  
"Would you be able to get a hold of more leaves like these? Or… even better, a live tree or bush or whatever these came from would be a huge help."  
"Umm… I can't guarantee anything, but I can try. How would we keep it alive long enough to get it back here if we did get the tree these came from?" Aaron asked. Jacob thought for a moment, and then answered.  
"About the best thing to do would be get a sapling if you can. All you'd have to do is keep the roots damp until you got back here. Before you leave to where ever you found these, call me and let me know. You know my cell number, so just call it day or night or whatever, and let me know. If there's nothing else, I'll run some more tests and see what I come up with. And, of course, a huge thanks to both of you guys for bringing me these! I was getting tired of investigating Dutch Elm disease." He said with a laugh. Once they shook the Professor's hand, they left his lab and headed home. Once they made it back to Aaron's house, they both crawled back into their beds and fell asleep almost immediately.  
The following morning, Aaron and Sam were up early; it was a Monday and they had school. After rushing through breakfast and throwing on something clean to wear, they ran out the door and missed the bus. Walking back to the house, they decided to drive to school that morning. After running inside to get the car keys, Aaron and Samantha went out to the garage and got in the car and headed for school. After hassling with the parking monitor and having to buy a parking permit for the Lamborghini, they parked the car and hurried off to their classes. The school day passed by uneventfully and as they were leaving the school to go back to Aaron's house, Aaron ran into a couple friends of his.  
"Dude! Long time no see! What's up, Aaron?" Aaron's long-time friend Neile Pederson called as he ran to catch-up with Aaron and Sam. Aaron turned around and was surprised to see Neile was walking hand-in-hand with another old friend of his, Liz Spoden.  
"Hey Neile… what's up, dude? When'd you get back into town? Last time we talked, you were heading out off to Germany with your family." Neile laughed a little.  
"No… our passports didn't go through and we didn't have time to get new ones made. Where you two off to? I thought you took the bus home like the rest of us who can't afford parking permits." Neile said as he glanced out the window to see if his and Liz' bus was there yet.  
"My fellow car nut, you'd try to steal my wheels if you knew what I was driving. So I'll just show it to you and drive you two home." Liz and Neile were surprised; Aaron usually was not that generous as Liz and Neile lived about three miles further away from school than Aaron did. They all walked out to the parking lot and Neile just about jumped for joy at seeing Aaron's car.  
"Dude! That's a Lamborghini Diablo! How'd you get this beauty?" Neile asked as he gazed through the tinted windows at the interior. Everything looked like the Lamborghini that he had seen in all the car magazines except for the boxes in what looked like a back seat and the extra gauges in the dashboard. There also appeared to be some kind of input socket in the passenger side dashboard.  
"Dude, this thing isn't stock, is it? It looks like you made some changes to it! What'd you do to it?" Neile asked. Liz came over and looked inside with Neile.  
"Let me unlock it before you drool all over the windows." Aaron said as he dug the display panel out of his backpack. After entering the commands to deactivate the security system and unlock it, the doors still did not open. Neile felt around the edges of the doorframe for the usual door handle, but did not find anything. Aaron walked over, and once he was within five feet of the door, both doors opened. Neile poked his head inside to look around before he sat down.  
"Neile… would you like to do the honors of firing it up? Oh, and if you want to keep the doors open, just keep something in the way of the doors." Aaron said to Neile. He tossed his friend the keys and came over to the driver's side. Neile reached over and set his backpack in the way of the door. The door, sensing that both its primary passengers were all the way inside the car, started to close but stopped when they sensed something was in the way, and opened back up all the way. Neile, curiosity peaked about the car, proceeded to start it up. Like it did when Aaron started it up the first time, it took three tries before it fired up and roared to life. A grin spread on Neile's face as he revved the engine up to near full power. He climbed out of the car and went over to Aaron and Sam.  
"That things kicks some serious tail! What's it got under the hood?" Neile asked.  
"That's the second best part… come with me." Aaron answered as he led Neile back to the car. All the time, Liz sat in the passenger side looking at all the gauges. Turning around, she finally saw what was in the boxes; two enormous green emeralds. Reaching back, she touched the smaller of the two boxes. It was cold, colder than the inside of the freezer back home. She got out and went over to Sam, who was standing alone after Aaron took Neile over to look at the engine.  
"Sam, what're those green emeralds for?" Liz asked as she walked up to Sam.  
"Oh, they're some kind of power source. Come with me… I'm sure Aaron's going to show those off too… once he gets done showing off the engine." Sam answered as she led Liz back to the car where Aaron and Neile stood. Aaron climbed into the car and pushed the button to open the engine compartment. Getting out, he walked to the back of the car as the engine shut down.  
"Neile and Liz, I give you the heart of the beast!" Aaron said as the hood opened. Neile had to stand on his toes to look fully into the engine bay.  
"This thing definitely ain't stock… twenty-eight cylinders, fuel injection and carburetor fuel system, there's stuff in here that I don't even know what it does… where'd you get this engine, dude?" Neile asked as he brushed his now dirty hands on his jeans.  
"That engine is only half of the powerhouse this thing has… check this out!" Aaron said as he punched in a command on his display panel. The hood shut and the car morphed as it had done before. Neile just gaped wide-eyed at it as the car grew in length. Climbing back into the driver's seat, he was surprised to find that two more rows of seats had appeared behind the front seats.  
"And this thing still does more than that… remember that Sonic comic I talked you into getting? Remember the planet it all takes place on?" Aaron asked, walking over to the passenger side and getting in. Once he was inside the car, he placed the display panel back in its cradle in the dashboard.  
"Kinda… think the place was called Mobius or something." Neile answered.  
"Well… believe it or not, this car can travel there and just about anyplace else you could think of. Sometime I'll take you and Liz, if she wants, there with me and Sam… we're planning on going back there sometime soon." Aaron explained. Liz and Sam had gotten tired of just standing around and came over to the car and got in the seats right behind Neile and Aaron. "What d'ya say to a quick cruise around town? Nothing too spectacular, but it'll give you an idea of what this thing can do." Neile did not hesitate to answer.  
"Heck, yeah! Liz… you don't mind, do ya?" Liz shrugged.  
"I dunno… I don't have anything big to do tonight. Yeah… let's go!" At that, Aaron had Neile get in the back with Liz so Sam could sit up front while Aaron drove. Aaron headed back out to the same highway the two of them had taken when they first traveled to Mobius. After taking the car near the speed they had reached before ending up on the space highway, Aaron drove them back into town. After dropping Neile and Liz off at their houses, Aaron and Sam went back to their houses and, after having an easy dinner and doing what little homework they had, went to bed early.

(End of Chapter 6)


	9. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Capture the Flag (Mobius year: 3226)

The sun was setting on the Great Forest. They knew they did not have much time left. Sonic did not like all this sneaking around. The direct approach had always worked for him and he preferred it to stealth. But he knew that the objective would soon be in sight. A short distance away, hidden from him, Sally lay in waiting. For her, there was only one objective: stop Sonic at all costs. Rotor and Bunnie were nearby as well, paused and waiting for some cue. At the moment, Antoine was lost.  
"Why am I always to be given such unuseful directions?" he thought to himself. "If I was not knowing for better or for worse, I would be saying to myself that I am trying to be avoided!" The light began to fail as night closed in. The others would have to act soon, he knew, and he intended to be in on the action. But it did not help if he was lost.  
Not daring to call out and give himself away, Antoine began slowly backing up. There was a hint of an autumn chill in the early evening air and the floor of the Great Forest already had a few dead leaves, which, if stepped on, could give away Antoine's position. As he moved back, he brushed against the trunk of a young tree. It bent just enough to release a branch that had fallen from another tree overhead. The ground fall struck just next to Antoine.  
"Help! Help! It is the invasion! We are doom-ed!" Out of sheer terror, Antoine ran. It did not matter to him at the moment just where he was running to. He darted straight ahead and plunged through a bush. As he did so, he fell to the ground. In his fall, he grabbed at something; a small square of red cloth tied to a stick.  
"Antoine!" Sally yelled. He looked at the object in his hand.  
"I have done it? Yes! Yes! I am triomphant!"  
"Aw, man!" Sonic groaned. The others began to come out of hiding.  
"Bunnie!" Sally snapped, "You were supposed to go for it!"  
"No way, Sal!"  
"Yes, way!"  
"You said Ah was supposed to run interference for you!"  
"I said Rotor was supposed to run interference!"  
"I thought I was supposed to be guarding the flag!"  
"Some kind of guarding, if you let Antoine get it!"  
"Now waiting a minute! Princess or non…" They argued at full volume as they made their way back to Knothole Village, as it had come to be called. When Sir Charles had originally designed it, he had attempted to reach for the concealed look. It had initially been planned out during a time of war, so the concealment was meant to keep the coming war away from it as much as possible. As the children realized that Knothole had become for them a safe place where Robotnik's SWATbots were not going to intrude, they began to display differing styles of adapting.  
Rotor, a young walrus, was thought at first to be the most serious potential troublemaker. He seemed most at ease when he was destroying things. It drove Rosie to distraction, but Julayla counseled patience. That patience was rewarded when, during one trying stretch when Rotor had spent three straight days taking things apart, he methodically made the rounds of the demolished objects and put them all back together in less than a day's time. In some cases, they worked better than before. Julayla explained that Rotor's mechanical aptitude was part of his way of coping with the situation: demonstrating some form of mastery over a world gone mad. She encouraged him in his interest in things mechanical and electronic.  
It was a different matter when dealing with Bunnie, a close friend of Sally's and the only other girl among the children. A child of the southern provinces, she had no use for the formalities and mannerisms of the royal court. If she did not care for your company, she would just as soon make a face at you than politely tolerate you. Yet this also gave her a free and easy happiness that was delightful to behold. She was extremely conscious of the natural world around her, and especially so of her own body. The women did the best they could with Bunnie, hoping against hope that she would grow out of some of her more excessive behaviors by the time she began to mature. It was with Bunnie in mind that Rosie and Julayla declared the hut where the two girls slept to be 'Off Limits' to the boys.  
If Bunnie was hard to deal with because she had not been exposed to court manners, Antoine was even harder to deal with because he had. The young coyote was the son of a minister in the King's diplomatic service; as a result, he had virtually from birth been exposed to the ways of the court. In Knothole, he clung to those ways with a fierce tenacity, as if he had personally been charged with safeguarding those habits and customs even if there was no royalty. Yet if he was loyal to those traditions, he was also so convinced of the rightness of his loyalty that nobody could tell him anything. It could be almost impossible to correct him. In time he even refused to correct his speech-an atrocious mangling of the language by someone who was not a native speaker. He would back down when he had to, but only to the grown-ups; he stubbornly held his own against the other children and, despite taking his share of lumps as a result, refused to yield. Julayla wondered if there were any way to sift through the chaff of arrogance to isolate the loyalty beneath.  
Of all the children, perhaps the easiest to understand was Charles's nephew, Sonic Hedgehog, and that made him all the more exasperating to deal with. He was very straightforward in his approach to life. Unfortunately, in his quest for the immediate, he would sooner take a shortcut than not. It showed in his schoolwork, for all the children had to spend their mornings in Knothole's dining hall, which doubled as a classroom where Julayla did the best she could with improvised materials. It was hard to say whose patience was put to the test more during these sessions, Sonic or Julayla's. Somehow, Sonic needed a steadying influence, and he found it in, oddly enough, a new arrival to Knothole.  
It was when Sonic was about seven years old that he disappeared from Knothole one day. This in itself was not unusual; he was prone to making himself scarce when he did not care for what was happening. Yet it was nearing nightfall when he returned without any explanation as to where he had been, without apology, and with a small child in tow.  
It was a fox cub, little more than a toddler. Yet this fox cub had not one, but two tails. Nobody knew how he could have been born with two tails; the consensus was that he had been in utero when Robotnik's systematic destruction of the planet and his crash program of industrialization had begun to poison the air and sky of Mobius. The only other clue to his identity was the name "Miles Prower" written on the inside of one of his shoes.  
Sonic finally admitted what had happened: on a surreptitious journey back to Mobotropolis, he had seen a fox couple, husband and wife, hide the cub inside a dumpster just before being apprehended by SWATbots. Sonic had waited until they had been taken away, and then retrieved the cub. Sonic never admitted it in so many words, it would not have been cool for him to do so, but it was clear to everyone that Sonic's heart had gone out to the little cub from the first.  
"Tails" as the fox cub came to be called, grew into an active and happy child, apparently unscarred by any memory of being orphaned. He was doted on by Rosie, and treated like a plaything on occasion by the girls. Yet his attentions were on Sonic. As he grew older he was constantly shadowing the young hedgehog, copying his speech and his mannerisms devotedly. The women worried that Sonic's ego was getting quite big enough without Tails' hero worship.  
But of all the children, Julayla was at the moment most concerned about Princess Sally. She was developing in a natural, unstudied way. She had a sharp intellect made sharper by study, yet she was not bookish; physically, she was strong and agile, and at an age when she might have been physically awkward she carried herself with grace. But something was beginning to change, and the change was worrying Julayla. She could not yet sense what exactly, but it was becoming clear to her that a part of Sally, a very vital part, was dying.  
The day's activities had been routine. The children had either awakened before dawn on their own or else were gotten out of bed by Rosie. They slept two to a hut: Sally and Bunnie in one hut, Antoine and Rotor in another, and Sonic and Tails in a third. Rosie and Julayla knew that, when the children were a little bit older and stronger in the coming spring, work would have to begin on additional huts to encourage independent living and to prevent personality clashes.  
Rotor was especially eager to set up housekeeping on his own, though the fastidious Antoine would have balked at the use of the word "housekeeping" in the same sentence as Rotor's name. It seemed the one thing of which Rotor was incapable. Spare parts and unrecognizable electronic components littered his half of the hut and drove Antoine to distraction.  
The children then went to have breakfast in the largest of the huts in Knothole: a general-purpose building that served as both a mess hall and a classroom. Bunnie tended to arrive last, usually because she could not decide which color ribbons to use to do up her ears.  
After the breakfast dishes were cleared away, it was time for the children's schooling. At ten years of age, they were literate enough in the Mobian language, except for Antoine, though his grasp of the planet's history was almost as complete as Sally's. Sally and Rotor were more adept at mathematics than the others, and there was no question that Rotor outshone the others in mechanics. Bunnie worked to keep up with the others, finding botany to be her easiest subject. Sonic tended to lose interest in just about everything after the first hour of instruction. Though Tails would spend some time in the classroom in the mornings, he was basically playing school.  
By the time noon rolled around, Julayla would signal the end of class. From there, the children would tend to their chores, for Knothole still required a fair amount of maintenance. The huts and the bridge across the river had to be maintained, and that meant carpentry. Rotor was able to fashion tools for some of the tasks. The vegetable gardens that helped sustain them also needed tending.  
It was at this point that Sonic tended to make himself scarce. Not that he was lazy; as with his schoolwork, he simply got bored easily. But if Tails wanted to "help," Sonic would pull his share of the load without complaint. However Sonic might feel about a particular task, he seemed to want to set a good example for the adoring cub.  
Sally, however, would sometimes spend the afternoon in Julayla's hut. There they would review old volumes of Mobian letters and lore that Julayla had managed to save during the invasion, and the gaps in Sally's knowledge of the history of the House of Acorn would be filled in.  
As evening approached, everyone gathered in the main hut for the second meal of the day. Then before bedtime, there would be play outdoors if the weather was right. Lately, this had meant dividing up to play Capture the Flag, a game of which Sally never seemed to tire. Yet lately it seemed that nothing went right when they played the game. No matter what team configuration they formed, something would happen to bring the game to a premature halt. Either Sonic would ignore strategy and make some rash move that would give away his position, or else Bunnie would refuse to try sneaking through foliage for fear of ruining her ears, or else Antoine would find something new to complain about, or else Tails would give away Sonic's position by ignoring everyone else and walking up to the hiding place of his older idol.  
But this afternoon, with a slight nip in the air and the wind sounding through the trees, Sally seemed more than just lost in thought as she looked at the blank piece of paper on the table before her.  
"Your first question," Julayla said. "What happened on this date in the year Twenty-two seventy-five?" Sally said nothing and wrote nothing.  
"Did you hear me, Princess?"  
"I'm sorry, Julayla. It's just that… oh, what's the point?" She let the pencil she was holding fall to the table. Julayla rose from her chair and seated herself on the bench where Sally was seated. She knew better than to say anything right away. "Julayla, why am I doing this?" Sally eventually asked. "This would all make sense if I were going to rule Mobius one day. But it doesn't make sense." There was a pause.  
"What happened?" Julayla finally asked.  
"Last night, when I was in bed, I closed my eyes and tried to remember what my old room looked like. But I couldn't. I couldn't even remember the color!" She looked at Julayla, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. "I'm forgetting it, Julayla! I'm forgetting it all!" Sally threw her arms around Julayla and began to cry. Julayla said nothing and simply held her close. After a couple of minutes, Sally was able to regain her composure.  
"I'm sorry," Sally sniffled.  
"Don't ever apologize for caring too deeply, Princess. You may go now, if you want to."  
"Thanks."  
"And tell the other children that there will be no class tomorrow." Sonic and Tails were back in their hut. Sonic drew the shades of the hut and looked to see that the door was bolted.  
"Okay, Tails, nobody can see in. You ready?"  
"Uh huh."  
"Go for it!"  
Tails closed his eyes and his two tails began moving in a circular motion. Nothing else happened for a second. But then Tails began slowly rising off the floor.  
"Doin' good, big guy!" Sonic said. "Keep it up." Tails looked rather awkward with his legs dangling beneath him and his rump in line with his head. But he continued to slowly gain altitude. He managed to get halfway to the hut's ceiling when, exhausted by the effort; he let himself fall into Sonic's outstretched arms.  
"Way to go, Tails!"  
"How far did I get?"  
"About halfway up. You're getting better each time."  
"Cool! When are we gonna show the others?"  
"Pretty soon. But it's our secret until then, okay?"  
"Okay. Sonic?"  
"Yeah?"  
"How come you didn't finish your supper?"  
"I don't know; I guess I'm just tired of having the same stuff all the time. And I was thinking about how Uncle Chuck used to make chilidogs. They were great," he added as he unbolted the door.  
"What's a chili dog?"  
"Oh yeah, I guess you never had one. Man, are you missing out!"  
"So, how did he make'em?"  
"Well, you know what a hot dog is, right?"  
"Uh huh."  
"And you know what chili is?"  
"No."  
"Oh, right. Well, it's sorta like a real spicy bean stew."  
"Eeeew! Doesn't sound so good to me!"  
"Well, trust me on this one: it tastes a lot better than it sounds!" Just then there was a knock at the cabin door. That meant one of the grown-ups doing a bed check. Sure enough, a second later the door opened and Julayla looked inside.  
"Is everything all right?" she asked.  
"Uh huh," Tails replied.  
"Those aren't proper words, Miles," Julayla said. She never missed an opportunity to correct Tails' speech, just as she could never bring herself to call Tails by his nickname. She felt nicknames to be improper, especially nicknames that were so anatomical.  
"Sorry. Everything's okay. G'night!"  
"Good night Miles. Good night, Sonic." She waited until the two boys were in their respective beds. She then extinguished the candle that burned on a nightstand close to the door. Once she closed the door, however, that was no guarantee that Sonic and Tails would go to sleep. In fact, most nights it was their cue to continue talking.  
"Where did Uncle Chuck live?" Tails asked in the darkness.  
"In Mobotropolis; in the city."  
"Where in the city?"  
"In a house, a place bigger than this one. And not too far from a park with a really neat playground. I'll show you," Sonic said as he pulled a flashlight from under his bed and turned it on. He then got out of bed and walked to a small table and chair in the room. He took a scrap of paper and a short pencil.  
"OK, let's say Knothole is here. This is the Great Forest and it comes out to just about here. Right here's the park and the playground in the park. And there's a block of houses over here. And… This one, from the end, that's where Uncle Chuck's house is."  
"Cool! Can you show me where it is for real some day?"  
"You can count on it, big guy." Sonic turned out the flashlight and the two found their way back to their beds. "Man, this is nothing like living with Uncle Chuck!"  
"What was it like?"  
"In some ways it was kinda fun. It was just the two of us, nobody else. He worked a lot, and that was kind of a drag, but we still spent a lot of time together. Maybe that's why he made chilidogs: they were real easy and it was just for the two of us. I guess the worst part was cooking the chili, 'cause it always took forever! He had to get the spices mixed just right, and he always used to sweat that part. But that was cool, too, 'cause that's when Uncle Chuck and me, we'd just talk to each other while it cooked. Kinda like you and me are doing now."  
"What'ja talk about?"  
"Just about anything. And Uncle Chuck never talked to me like he was a grown-up and I was a kid, the way the grown-ups around here do. I think that's one of the things I miss most about Uncle Chuck. He tried talking to me about his brother a couple of times, about the kind of life he led and stuff, but I guess I wasn't paying all that much attention back then. Now I wish I had. 'Cause now I know he was talking about… about my Dad. Only I didn't know it and Uncle Chuck didn't want to come out and say it." Sonic was about to go on, but he stopped. Across the darkened room he could hear the steady rhythm of Tails breathing. Sonic smiled. "Sweet dreams, little bro," he whispered.

(End of Chapter 7)


	10. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Vision

It was just before dawn when Sally was roused from a dreamless sleep by a knock at the cabin door.  
"Who is it?" she asked.  
"Get your cloak, Princess." It was Julayla. Sally got out of bed, felt around the side of her bed for her boots, slowly pulled them on, and then walked across the hut to a wardrobe. Fumbling through, she found the heavy hooded cloak that belonged to her. She draped it over her shoulders gladly, for the morning was cold.  
"Whuh the hoo-ha's goin' on, Sally?" Bunnie asked in a sleepy slur of words.  
"Julayla wants me for something. I wonder what?"  
"Homsanomuh," Bunnie mumbled as she drifted back to sleep. Sally stepped out of the hut, slowly closing the door behind her. Julayla was already dressed in a long cloak of her own. Without a word, she began walking to the edge of the clearing, with Sally following close behind.  
Ordinarily, Sally would not have hesitated to ask Julayla a hundred questions: Why get up so early? Where were they going? Did she bring provisions? But there was something about Julayla's demeanor that morning which forbade questioning, which forbade conversation altogether.  
The two walked on for several hours. Breakfast was taken on the run, as Julayla and Sally ate berries and other edibles they found along the way. This was nothing new to Sally, for Julayla had taught her survival skills already. At last, after several hours, they had circled back to a large meadow about ten minutes walk from Knothole. Julayla sat down on a fallen tree trunk, and Sally sat down next to her.  
"What is this place?" Julayla asked.  
"Well," Sally began, not really sure just what Julayla was asking, "It's a meadow. We usually come here to play Capture the Flag."  
"Why?"  
"I guess because it's so open. See, if the flag were placed at that small sapling there, or over by that stone, you'd have a hard time getting to it without being seen."  
"Princess, when you play this game, what is it you're after?"  
"We try to capture the flag that's held by the other team."  
"No, Princess; what is it you're really after?"  
"I don't understand." Julayla said nothing. She leaned back slightly and studied a few small clouds overhead in the sky. Sally looked too, not knowing what she was looking at.  
"There," Julayla said at length. "That cloud toward the northern horizon."  
"I see it."  
"Do you see the face in it?"  
"No, I don't. Whose face do you mean?"  
"You never met him," Julayla said as she turned to look at Sally. "More years ago than I care to recount, when I was only a little older than you are now and living in our village far to the East, I loved a boy. Juleric, his name was. He never sought my heart, but I gave mine to him gladly." Sally listened in rapt attention. The thought of Julayla as a young girl in love was one she had never entertained before.  
"He could have claimed the heart of any girl in the village. When he chose another, it was devastating. Yet I knew that I would always love him, and that I would still see his face even when he was gone."  
"You saw his face in the cloud, then?"  
"Yes… but only because I carry his face with me. In my heart." The two were silent for a short time. "Princess Sally, you miss your home. I think we all do. And yet you still have that home."  
"I do? Where?" Julayla did not answer the question. She just looked at Sally and waited for the Princess to answer her own question. "But Julayla, what good is a memory?"  
"That I cannot answer. You yourself will discover the answer. When it is time."  
"Time for what?" Julayla did not answer. Instead, she rose to her feet.  
"You must remember. Remember everything and anything. You said you were worried because you could not remember your old room, even its color. Then remember the shape of the door or window. Remember the sounds you heard every day in that room. It will return. And once it returns, you will understand what a memory is good for. That is your assignment: to stay here and remember. Come back to Knothole when you are finished, whenever that may be." And without another word, Julayla walked away.  
"This is ridiculous!" Sally thought. "There's no way this can help me! Why should I even bother?" She spent the first twenty minutes or so studiously and angrily avoiding her assignment. She circled the meadow, looked at the clouds in the sky, tried, and failed to count the number of trees surrounding the meadow, and then finally as the sun climbed to its midday height, she sat at the foot of the willow.  
"This is stupid!" she said out loud. "Remember this! Remember that! It's all a bunch of…" She was so disgusted she was at a loss for words, but she finally came up with a phrase: "It's all a bunch of… of moonshine on water!" Sally gasped. Her eyes went wide. She had not heard those words spoken since she was a girl. She had said them while watching the delicate willow branches as they swayed in the breeze, branches as fine as hair.  
Suddenly it all flooded over her. She was young again; she must have been only three. She was seated on someone's lap, looking at her own reflection in a mirror as that someone brushed Sally's hair after her bath. That someone was singing a song, a lullaby, about night and the moonshine on water.  
And Sally was remembering. She remembered that she was in the nursery, only now she could see it all. She saw everything with absolute clarity and conviction. She remembered every sound, every scent, and every color. But most of all, she remembered how good it felt at that very moment, to sit without a stitch of clothing on someone's lap watching yourself in a mirror having your hair brushed by someone singing a simple song.  
Sally's reaction was simple and straightforward: for the next forty minutes, on and off, she cried her eyes out. The memory had created a joy in her she had not felt in a long time; the realization that that joy was now lost to her was too much to bear. Finally, worn out from crying, she looked across the meadow from beneath the tree.  
"Anything and everything," Julayla had said. Then she looked at the meadow itself. It was familiar, but in a way Sally could not describe. It looked like the palace garden in Mobotropolis. Was this what Julayla was driving at? Had she chosen this meadow because it was a good game field, or because of the memory it evoked, a memory unidentified until now?  
This was getting to be too much. Sally quickly walked away from the willow and stepped into the Great Forest. She took one quick look back over her shoulder at the willow, and then turned. And now she saw something that almost stopped her heart.  
She looked up at the trunks and branches of the trees as they interlaced to form the protective shield that kept Knothole hidden. Only now it looked less and less like a covering of tree branches and more and more like a ceiling… the ceiling of the Throne Room at the Palace. And before her she thought she could see an aged tree trunk shift into the ornate throne of the Acorn kings. And seated on the throne…  
"Daddy?" she heard herself say in a half-whisper.  
"What's wrong, my dear?"  
"Daddy, I… I don't know what's happening to me. And I'm scared."  
"I know. I wish I could calm your fear but it's not within my power."  
"What is happening to me?"  
"You're growing up, my dear. I only wish I really was here to see it." And he smiled the smile he gave when there was a joke that only the two of them could share.  
"But I'm not ready yet!"  
"I know. But there's nobody to assume the throne as Regent until you come of age, and you no longer have the luxury of waiting. Whether you're ready or not, whether you like it or not, this old throne is yours… If you're ready to take it back… that is the point, Sally." When Sally awoke, it was with eyes red and swollen from crying. She was at the base of an old tree stump, its wood long rotted with decay. She looked around. The light was failing. The sun was low in the sky; almost night. How long had she been asleep? She gathered her cloak about her and began running back toward Knothole.  
Despite all the emotions that had overwhelmed her that day, Sally felt no fatigue. In fact, remembering what she had gone through buoyed her up as nothing had before. She had to tell someone. She ran into the center of Knothole. There appeared to be no activity of any kind. She quickly walked to the cabin she shared with Bunnie.  
"Bunnie?" she called out as she opened the door. No sooner had Sally entered the hut than the door slammed shut behind her. Sally turned, and could see Bunnie in the dim light.  
"Bunnie, I've got to tell you what…" But before she could say anything else, Bunnie placed her hand across Sally's mouth as if to silence her. Sally simply batted it away.  
"Bunnie, what's your problem?"  
"Tails is missing, that's mah problem!"  
As Sally's eyes became adjusted to the dark, she could see that Sonic, Rotor, and Antoine were in the room with them. It was a major infraction for any of the boys to be in the girls' hut after curfew, but that fact seemed to pale in comparison to Bunnie's news.  
"When did it happen?" Sally asked.  
"We don't know. Last anyone saw of Tails, he was sittin' next to Sonic at dinner. He left the table and never came back. Whenever Rosie or Julayla asked about him we told them that he was with someone else who wasn't there at the time, Sonic or Rotor or someone. I think we managed to fool them through bed check, but we still don't know what happened to the little darlin'!"  
"I even took a quick dip in the river," Rotor added. "At least we know he didn't fall in."  
"Sonic, did you say anything to Tails that might have gotten him mad or…"  
"No way, Sal! I was just, you know, talking to him."  
"What did you say, exactly?"  
"Not much, just the usual, like how I was getting tired of the same old thing over and over for meals and how much I missed Uncle Chuck's chili dogs and… Oh boy."  
"Sonique, what is meaning this 'oh boy'?"  
"Well…"  
"Sonic, what are you trying to say?"  
"It's probably nothing, Sal, but… well, last night I was talking to him about Uncle Chuck's chili dogs and how he used to make 'em and…"  
"Sonic, please! I don't want to hear any more about chilidogs! Besides, it's not like Tails knows the way to Uncle Chuck's."  
"Well…" And so Sonic told the others of their conversation the night before.  
"Sonic, you didn't! Why would you tell Tails where Uncle Chuck's house used to be?"  
"How'd I know he'd go looking for it?"  
"He's four years old! Four-year-olds do things like that! Smart move, Sonic! He's probably lost somewhere in the Great Forest right now."  
"He is not. I…"  
"There's more?"  
"I… sort of kind of drew him a map."  
"And he's got it?"  
"I can't find it anywhere; he must have taken it with him."  
"Perfect! You gave him directions to get to Robotnik! And if Tails gets caught by any SWATbots, they'll have directions to get to us!"  
"Relax! I'll just go get him."  
"Sonic, you can't just go walking back to Robotropolis and…"  
"Who says I can't?" It looked like the two of them were two seconds away from a fight. That would really have brought out the grown-ups. Instead, Sally lowered her voice. But while she spoke calmly, she continued to look Sonic in the eye.  
"What is it, really?"  
"I…" Sonic hesitated. "Well, it's just that I promised Rosie that I'd look after Tails all day today. And… And I promised her I wouldn't let her down. Look, Sal, we both know the grown-ups think I'm a loser, some kind of screw-up. Just 'cause I don't do well in school or I don't help out as much as they say I'm supposed to. I wanted to show them I was good at something, but…" Sonic turned away from her and the rest of the children.  
"It's okay," Sally said in a whisper, placing her hand on his shoulder. "We'll look for him together. All of us."  
"Sal, you weren't even here when…"  
"That doesn't make any difference, Sonic. I don't want to see anything happen to him, either."  
"But Princess," Antoine asked with a tremor in his voice, "for the all of us to be going to that terrible place…"  
"Fine. We'll only take volunteers, then. All those who care about Tails, raise your hand. Okay, it's unanimous. Get your cloaks… we're leaving."

(End of Chapter 8)


	11. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 First Journey

There had once been only a narrow wooded strip between the place where the Great Forest and the city of Mobotropolis met. Only a portion of the strip remained; the rest had been cleared and just beyond that clearing were acres of garbage. The children stood in the shadows of the trees at the edge of the wood. Ahead of them the once-beautiful city of Mobotropolis was lit by electric lamps that cut unnaturally through the polluted air.  
"Sally, girl, this is just awful!" Bunnie whispered.  
"I know, Bunnie. Robotnik's ruined the whole city."  
"I'm talkin' 'bout my ears… the stuff in the air's makin' 'em wilt!"  
"They'll be okay, Bunnie, but Tails is what matters now."  
"How come it's so warm, Sally?" Rotor asked. "It was cooler in the forest."  
"All the pollution in the air must be trapping the heat from the city. We'd better leave our cloaks here; besides, they might get in the way. Okay, Sonic, how do we get to Uncle Chuck's?"  
"How should I know?"  
"You said you knew the way!"  
"Sal, look around! Too much has changed! I always used to know my way to Uncle Chuck's from the playground in the park. I'd climb to the top of the slide in the park, and I could see Uncle Chuck's house from there. With all this garbage here I don't think I can even find the park!"  
"We can and we will, Sonic. For Tails' sake. Now come on, we've got to try and find it." The children walked cautiously over and around mountains of refuse for about ten minutes. Finally, Sally stopped.  
"What's up, Sal?"  
"I don't know where we are, Sonic. I thought we'd be in the park's playground by now, but I don't see it anywhere."  
"You mean we're lost?"  
"Not yet, Bunnie; I just need to get my bearings somehow. Just give me a minute to think."  
"What if we ain't got a minute, Sally-girl? Them SWATbots could be on their way here right now!" But Sally was already studying the landscape. She started to walk toward the city, hesitated, and then looked to her feet. Kneeling, she began to clear away the debris. The others gather round her.  
"What's up, Sal?" Sonic asked.  
"This pipe, with what looks like some kind of clamps on it. I think I should know what this is."  
"What're you talkin' about?"  
"Julayla told me to remember, even the smallest things about Mobotropolis. Help me clear off this pipe." The children did. Soon, the top of the pipe was exposed.  
"Hmmm. There are six clamps of some kind. That could also mean… Oh my gosh!"  
"Sal, what is it?"  
"Sonic, don't you see what this is?" Sally asked excitedly.  
"Uh…"  
"This pipe… it's the top of the swing set!"  
"Come again?"  
"The swing set! Remember how it had three swings on it. That meant it had six chains holding the seats. These clamps must be the ones that held the chains in place!"  
"I was gonna say that."  
"Then the park…" Rotor began.  
"Exactly. We've been right all along. The park is here, under all this garbage." The children were silent for a moment.  
"Man, this is the pits!" Rotor said. "It's bad enough Robotnik had to roboticize everybody, but then he buries the playground under tons of garbage!" Bunnie started crying,  
"I want to go home!"  
"Bunnie," Sally said gently but firmly as she grabbed her friend by the shoulders, "you are home. This city, this whole world, used to be our home! And one of these days we're going to take it back!"  
"Really?" She sniffled.  
"Really. But right now we've got work to do. Now if this is the swing set, then the slide should be somewhere over there!" Sally ran off to her left, the others following closely. She began scratching at the garbage heap again.  
"What're we lookin' for, Sally-girl?"  
"The top of the slide: two curving metal tubes." The others began scrounging as well. In less than a minute,  
"Found 'em!" Rotor had indeed found the handrails of the disused slide. Sally dug some more until she uncovered the well-worn metal plate that was the top of the slide.  
"Okay, Sonic. Stand here and close your eyes."  
"Then what?"  
"Then see if you can see Uncle Chuck's house."  
"With my eyes closed?"  
"In your mind, with your heart, your imagination! Now come on, we don't have all night!" Sonic was taller than he had been the last time he was on the slide, and he had to bend his knees slightly to take hold of the railings. Once he did, however, it all flooded over him. He no sooner closed his eyes and held onto the railing than he gasped, opened his eyes, raised his arm, and pointed ahead of him.  
"That's the way to Uncle Chuck's." Ahead of them, just beyond where the trash stopped, was a block of modest homes, homes long deserted. Some of them were already partially buried by the garbage.  
"Which one is it?" Sally asked.  
"That one: fourth from the corner, facing the next street."  
"Great work, Sonic! Let's go." The children began walking toward the houses.  
"Sal, it was like I really could see it! That was way past cool! But what if Tails isn't there?" That was the one thing Sally had not allowed herself to think about.  
"Let's just search your Uncle Chuck's house first," was all she said.  
The modest house, which had once been the home and workshop of Sir Charles Hedgehog, was deserted. Unlike the other houses, it showed signs of having been thoroughly ransacked. The door appeared to have been torn off its hinges, and almost every window had been smashed. Ducking down an alley, the children made their way to the small workshop attached to the back of the house.  
The inside of the workshop resembled the garbage dump the children had just left. Papers and components littered the floor. Dust and grit lay heavy on smashed glass and scattered pieces of paper.  
"Oh my gosh," Sally whispered, "this place looks like someone fought a war in here!"  
"It is looking like the SWATbots, they destructioned everything."  
"Looks like they haven't been back since. Maybe they'll leave us in peace while we look for… Are you okay, Sonic?"  
"Back off! It's just… dusty in here, that's all." It was dusty inside the workshop, but Sally did not see any of the others rubbing their eyes the way she saw Sonic rubbing his. She backed off.  
"What is your planning, Princess?"  
"We can't call out for Tails; the SWATbots might hear us. Look at the floor and see if you can find any footprints; it's so dusty in here he's bound to have left some if he came this way."  
"Got it, Sal. Rotor, you and me will check out the store room." Sonic and Rotor made their way to a room just off the workshop. It may have been a storeroom but it was no mere closet; it was at least half the size of the workshop. Mechanical components lay just about everywhere.  
"Oh, wow! Look at this capacitor unit! Sonic, your Uncle Chuck had some great stuff!"  
"This is all junk, Rotor!"  
"Not after I get through with it. I gotta take this back with us!"  
"That stuff hasn't worked in who knows how long."  
"C'mon, Sonic. I've fixed toasters that were in worse shape than this!"  
"Worry about your toasters later, man, right now we gotta look for Tails!"  
"Okay, Sonic, okay. But why do I get the feeling I've seen this thing before?" Rotor wondered out loud as he looked at a large box-like mechanism in the center of the room.  
"Because it is looking like every other contraptionation you have builded in our hut," Antoine said pointedly. He had found no trace of Tails and had gone to the storeroom to tell Rotor and Sonic. Sally and Bunnie were right behind him.  
"I don't think so, Ant. There's just something…" At a loss for words, Rotor tapped the side of the machine. Immediately, there was another sound, one that brought all other sound and movement to a halt,  
"Sonic? Where are you?" It was Tails.  
"Yeah, it's me! Where are you, big guy?"  
"I felled in here. I can't find my way out."  
"Hang on, honey," Sally said, as she felt her heart start beating again, "we'll find the door. How did you get in there?"  
"I finded the place just like Sonic's map said, but I couldn't find where the chili dogs were. So I opened the door and looked in here, but it closed and I can't open it. I guess I felled asleep."  
"Okay, Tails, where was the door?"  
"On this side."  
"Tap on the side for me." In a second the others heard Tails tapping on the casing.  
"Rotor, can you get inside there?"  
"Give me a second to… wait, I think this is an access plate. If I can find where to push…" The top of the plate moved in toward the inside of the machine. The foot of the plate was apparently hinged, and a spring at the top was what must have trapped Tails inside and prevented him from opening it.  
"You okay, Tails?" Sonic asked.  
"Uh-huh. But I can't get out."  
"Tails," Sally called to him, "you'll have to move away from the plate."  
"The what?"  
"The… the thing that Rotor's pushing on."  
"It's too tight!"  
"Tails, you have to try!"  
"I can't hold this open by myself. The spring's too tight! Antoine, get over here and lean."  
"Sonic, can you reach around them and pull Tails out of there?"  
"I'll try, Sal." Rotor and Antoine pressed against the access plate. It gave, but at the same time they heard a small yelp from inside the machine.  
"You okay, Tails?" Sonic called out.  
"The door bit me!"  
"Stand to the side of the door, honey," Sally called to him, "as far as you can go." After a second, Rotor and Antoine resumed pushing. Then, in the room's dim light, Sally made out a shape emerging from the machine: a waving hand.  
"I see you, Tails! Hang in there. Sonic, grab on!" It took about a minute more of pushing and fidgeting, of grabbing and having to let go, but eventually Tails was out of the machine with Sonic's arms around him. Freed of his prison, he started to whimper.  
"Hey, everything's cool, big guy. We got you out of there."  
"He must have leaned against that access plate just enough to fall inside," Sally guessed. She then cradled the cub's face in her hands. "But I'm just so glad we found…" She paused.  
"What's up, Sal?"  
"Tails, where's the map Sonic gave you last night?"  
"Right here," he said, holding up a crumpled piece of paper.  
"Tails, honey, we have to get rid of it right now."  
"But it's mine! Sonic made it for me!"  
"Better do what she says, little bro, or else Robotnik might find it. For me, okay?" Sonic added as Tails showed signs of hesitation.  
"Well, okay," Tails said as he handed Sally the paper.  
"Now let's burn this before… Oh no!"  
"Now what?"  
"Sonic, this isn't your map. Tails must have dropped it inside the machine and picked this up instead."  
"But what is it?"  
"I don't know; it's too dark to read. Rotor and Antoine, see if you can feel around for that map inside the machine. The rest of us will be in the kitchen; maybe we can find some matches in there."  
"Here we are going against," Antoine sighed. While Rotor and Antoine once more did battle with the access plate, the others followed Sonic into the kitchen of Uncle Chuck's house. The room appeared orderly, though dusty.  
"Looks like they didn't bother searching this room," Sally observed. "Robotnik must have figured that the good stuff was in the workshop."  
"Yeah, well he never tasted one of Uncle Chuck's…"  
"Sonic, don't say it!"  
"What's the matter, you don't like chili dogs?"  
"No, it's just that I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast and I'm starving!"  
"Well, somethin' 'round here's killin' mah appetite!" Bunnie said, her nose wrinkling. "What in the hoo-ha is that?"  
"Got the map, Sonic!" Rotor said as he walked into the kitchen. Antoine followed close behind, muttering and brushing the dirt from his coat.  
"Hey, Sal, I found a candle and some matches in this drawer."  
"Don't light it yet, Sonic! Make sure the window shades are down; we don't want to be seen." After a few seconds of pulling down what was left of the shades, Sally dared to light the candle.  
"Okay, here's the map. First things first, we'd better burn this. What's that other piece of paper, Sonic?" There was a long pause.  
"I don't know, but it's got Uncle Chuck's writing on it." Sonic handed the paper to Sally.  
"Looks like random notes:  
COOLANT PROBLEM SOLVED  
SECURE POWER SOURCE  
EXTRA ONIONS."  
"'Extra onions?'" Rotor asked.  
"Yeah, that's how Uncle Chuck liked his chil… his you-know-whats: with extra onions."  
"That's what Ah'm smellin'!"  
"What, Bunnie?" The children did a quick search of the kitchen and located several bins, one of which was labeled ONIONS. Sally opened it.  
"Eeeeeeeeeww! Close it, Sally girl!" Immediately Sally replaced the lid.  
"Man, I didn't know anything could smell that bad!"  
"We've got to get rid of those things; they're rotten!" Using a ruler from the workshop, Sally scooped out the remains of a couple of thoroughly rotted onions. She pitched them out of a broken window.  
"Well," Sonic said, "that takes care of the bad ones. At least the other onions in the bin looked okay."  
"Sonic," Sally asked, "when's the last time you heard of onions staying fresh for a year?" The children looked at each other in silence, and then started grabbing at the onions in the bin.  
"Sacre bleu cheeze. They are the plastique!"  
"I don't get it, Sal. Why would Uncle Chuck keep plastic onions in this bin?"  
"Maybe there's something about the bin itself. Help me empty it." In a matter of seconds the children had dumped all the plastic onions onto the floor.  
"Now what, Sal?"  
"Let me think." She spent several seconds looking into the empty bin. She then opened the bin next to it, a bin marked POTATOES. It was empty as well.  
"Looks like we struck out, Sal."  
"Not yet. Let me try something." Sally reached into the onion bin until her palm rested flat on the bottom. The top of the bin went just past her elbow. When she tried the same thing with the potato bin, however, the top of the bin came up almost to her armpit.  
"I knew it! This bin must have a false bottom! Can you get me a knife?" Sonic opened a drawer and produced a long kitchen knife. Sally began using it on the edge of the bottom of the bin. It slid between the bottom and the sidewall easily, and Sally worked the bottom of the bin loose.  
The children backed away in awe. Underneath the false bottom lay a large yellow, faceted stone, about as big as Sally's head. It appeared to glow from within.  
"Oh my gosh! This looks like a power stone."  
"A what?"  
"A power stone. It's a source of tremendous energy. Looks like this was where Uncle Chuck kept it hidden. That may be what Uncle Chuck's note meant by 'SECURE POWER SOURCE.' If Robotnik had gotten hold of this…"  
"So what do we do, take it back to Knothole?"  
"You know, Sally," Rotor said, "I think that stone will fit into the top of that machine in the storeroom."  
"Rotor, this is no time to experiment; we've got to get out of here!"  
"But what if that contraption was something important? What if it was something that could be used against Robotnik?"  
"Like what?"  
"Like… I don't know; we have to turn it on."  
"Look, we'll see if the stone fits; then we'll have to leave!" The stone, though sizable, was surprisingly light in weight. Rotor carried it back into the storeroom, with the others following him.  
"Why are you giving to him this indulgence?" Antoine whispered to Sally.  
"I don't know; just a feeling I have. I think this thing is important, somehow." Rotor guessed correctly that an aperture near the top of the machine would accommodate the stone. After fitting it in, Rotor did not even bother saying anything to Sally, but simply turned on what appeared to be the power switch. At first nothing happened. Then a low humming filled the air. Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash as a metallic ring, shining like gold and light, shot up from the top of the machine, ricocheted off the ceiling, and landed with a clang at Sonic's feet. Rotor reached over and turned off the power switch. At the same time something else fell to the ground, something that had been ejected from the machine just behind the ring. Sally picked it up.  
"Sonic, it's an envelope. With your name on it!"  
"Were you hearing that?" Antoine whispered.  
"Come on, 'Twan, let's go see if this house is haunted," Bunnie teased.  
"That is not a thing of which to be funny."  
"Maybe you two had better check it out; see if anyone's coming." Antoine and Bunnie reluctantly left the room.  
"Be careful!" Sally whispered after them.  
"What's this thing?" Tails asked as he reached for the ring.  
"Don't touch that, Tails!" Sally cautioned. "We don't know what it is yet."  
"Awwww."  
"Come on, honey, let's see where Antoine and Bunnie went to," Sally said as she guided Tails out of the room. Sonic opened the envelope and looked at the letter inside by the light of the power stone. "Hey, Rotor, this is from Uncle Chuck!"  
"Uh, right. Maybe I'd better see what the others are doing," Rotor said as he walked out of the room, figuring that Sonic would want to read the letter in private. Sonic began to read:  
"SONIE,  
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU'VE DISCOVERED SOMETHING I  
WAS WORKING ON FOR YOU BUT WASN'T GOING TO TELL YOU ABOUT  
UNTIL YOU HAD COME OF AGE. I SUPPOSE I SHOULD BE CROSS AT  
YOU FOR FINDING THIS, BUT I KNOW HOW UNSTOPPABLE YOU CAN BE.  
THIS DEVICE HARNESSES ENERGY FROM A POWER STONE AND  
CONVERTS IT INTO A PORTABLE FORM; I CALL IT A 'POWER RING.'  
THESE RINGS ARE USELESS TO ANYBODY BUT YOU; THE OUTER CASING  
CAN RECOGNIZE YOUR GENETIC CODE JUST BY COMING IN CONTACT  
WITH YOUR SKIN. I DON'T KNOW WHAT EFFECT THE RINGS WILL  
HAVE ON YOU; I HOPE IT WILL BE SOMETHING BENEFICIAL.  
AS PUNISHMENT FOR FINDING THIS MACHINE AHEAD OF TIME,  
YOU OWE ME 100 CHILI DOGS-YOU KNOW HOW I LIKE 'EM.  
LOVE,  
UNCLE CHUCK."  
"Yeah," Sonic thought as he wiped away the tears that had built up, "with extra onions." Sonic looked at the ring at his feet. It gave off a strange glow but did not look all that remarkable. He bent down to pick it up.  
As soon as he did, he felt something, almost like a wave of some sort, shoot through him. It was as if something inside the power ring had found its way into every cell of his body at once. It was a sensation he had never felt before, and it was wonderful.  
"Cool!" He had to show this to the others. Holding onto the ring, he walked through to where the others had gone. He then noticed that the front door was open. Through the door, he could see Sally and Tails with their backs to him. They appeared to be standing on the sidewalk in front of the house. He stepped through the door into the night.  
"Hey, guys! Check this…" He stopped. He could now see that the others stood huddled in a small group on the sidewalk, surrounded by four SWATbots with blasters at the ready. Sonic could sense another SWATbot just behind him.  
"Sonic!" Sally screamed. "Run!" And run he did. Holding onto the mysterious ring, he found himself running as he had never run before. He was traveling at speed that went faster than anything any of the children had ever seen before. The scenery around him was an indistinct blur of colors. Nothing looked normal, but it did not make any difference to Sonic. He was incapable of feeling any fear. And there was no word at all to describe the exhilaration, the rush, the joy he felt as he ran. It was all of that and more. Without thinking, he turned and raced back the way he had come.  
He returned to the spot he had left but the others were not there. They were about a hundred yards up the street, sprawled on the ground. They were covered with dust and their hair was going in every direction.  
"Hey! What happened?"  
"You are what has been happened!" Antoine sputtered. "You and your silly showing-off type behavior."  
"Say what? What's he talking about, Sal?"  
"You mean you don't know?"  
"Know about what?"  
"Sonic, something happened when you ran away. There was this explosion and it was as if… I don't know how to describe it… as if you were pulling the air around us after you! It knocked us all off our feet! I've never felt anything like it, not even during the worst storm!"  
"And check this out!" Rotor added as he examined the pieces of what had been at least one of the SWATbots. "These bots got tossed around like they were nothing. They hit walls and lampposts and started flying to pieces."  
"But what happened?" Sonic repeated.  
"Antoine was right the first time," Sally said in a voice filled with awe, "You happened! I don't know how you did it, but your speed saved our lives."  
"Oui, but we are not being back in the woods yet! What if there are more of these terrible things on the approach?" Just then, they heard in the distance the warble of a siren. That meant more SWATbots were on the way.  
"Come on! We've got to get out of here."  
"But Uncle Chuck's…"  
"Uncle Chuck's will be the first place they look for us, Sonic. We'll hide in one of those row houses."  
The children ran to the end of the block, where several old row houses stood. The doors had fallen off long ago and the windows were just empty rectangles. They dashed into what had once been someone's living room. Sally instructed them to lie down on the floor in the shadows of the room. Colored lights from a SWATbot hover unit shone through the window spaces and danced on the bare walls.  
"Now what, Sal?" Sonic asked.  
"Wait here," Sally whispered. I'm going to check it out." Sally slowly crawled toward the front door, inching along through the dust. Tails began to shiver with fear, but Sonic held onto his hand. At the doorway, Sally peered around the corner of the doorway and down the street. She knew that she presented such a low profile that it would be difficult to see her.  
"How bad is it, Sal?" Sonic whispered. For a moment, Sally did not say anything.  
"It's bad, Sonic. And it just got worse."  
"Snively!" Doctor Robotnik bellowed as he strode out of his hover unit. This brought his nephew and lackey out right behind him. "What is this place? It looks familiar."  
"This used to be the workshop of Sir Charles Hedgehog."  
"Ah, yes. I've sometimes thought that this place hadn't yielded up all its secrets. And where are the SWATbots who are supposed to be patrolling this sector?"  
"It appears that something happened to them just before they went offline," he said as he began picking up some of the robot debris. "I can retrieve their black boxes if you like, and…"  
"Don't waste my time with that! Something happened to those SWATbots, and it happened to them here. Bring in the SWATbots from the adjoining two sectors: I want a house-by-house search of this street!"  
"At once, Sir!" Snively said before disappearing back into the hover unit.  
"We're dead!" Bunnie began to whimper.  
"Stop it, Bunnie!" Sally whispered, for she had rejoined the others. "We can get out of this."  
"You got a plan?" Sonic asked.  
"As a matter of fact, I do. The Willow Tree Diversion."  
"Time out, Sal!" Sonic whispered. "This ain't no game!"  
"Sonic, that's what I wanted to tell you! Look out the window." Sonic edged toward the window, keeping to the shadows of the room. Sally stayed next to him.  
"Isn't the street from here to Uncle Chuck's workshop about the same size as the southern meadow?"  
"Yeah, sort of."  
"And the door is exactly where the willow tree stands."  
"Hey, yeah! And that mailbox is about where the old stump is!"  
"That's what Julayla was trying to show me: that I've been rebuilding Mobotropolis all along, carrying it in my mind. Even when we were playing Capture The Flag, it was our way of practicing to take Mobotropolis back. And now that we're here, we just have to remember how we practiced it."  
"You think this'll work, Sal?" Rotor asked.  
"With one or two modifications, it should work perfectly. Sonic, check to see if the alley behind these houses is clear. Bunnie and Antoine, you'll be running the play."  
"Can I help too, Aunt Sally?"  
"You bet, Tails!" Sonic said.  
"Sonic, he's too young to be taking chances like that!"  
"News flash, Sal: we're all too young! Besides, we've been working on a little… surprise."  
"Ah, here come my SWATbots now," Robotnik said as two hover units landed. Their doors opened and two SWATbots emerged from each craft.  
"Snively!"  
"Yes, sir."  
"Deploy the SWATbots along both sides of this street, two to a block. Have them search every…" Robotnik's instructions were interrupted as he looked down what he thought was a deserted street. Something moved. It was small, about the size of a young fox, and it moved fast. It darted out of a doorway and then darted into another one just a few feet down the street.  
"Did you see that, Snively?"  
"Yes, sir."  
"Then send the SWATbots after it!"  
"At once, sir." But before Snively could do so, another figure, this one more like a young rabbit, emerged from yet another doorway in the same block of row houses. Once more, it ran a short distance before ducking into yet another doorway.  
"I'm… awaiting your orders, sir," Snively said with some nervousness.  
"There appears to be more than one intruder, and they're moving away from Sir Charles's house. It could be…" Robotnik let his sentence go unfinished as the first figure emerged from a doorway.  
"Never mind strategy; after that intruder!" Robotnik, Snively, and the SWATbots began to give chase on foot.  
The figure disappeared into the shadows of yet one more doorway. As Robotnik approached, still another figure emerged from the last doorway. Robotnik's eyebrows shot up in surprise. It was a young hedgehog, perhaps about seven years old. The child strode to the middle of the street, put his hands on his hips and addressed Robotnik,  
"Hold it right there, Buttnik!"  
"That's 'ROBOTNIK', you impudent brat!"  
"That's what I said, 'RoBUTTnik!'"  
"I know you," he said slowly, "you're that nephew of Sir Charles Hedgehog, the one who got away from me. I remember you very well. Where have you been hiding?"  
"That's for me to know and you to find out. Not!"  
"Why you fresh-mouthed upstart!"  
"Hey, if you want a piece of me, come and get me!" Robotnik drew closer to the young hedgehog, which made a point of crossing his arms and whistling nothing in particular. He showed no fear, and this infuriated Robotnik all the more. Robotnik could have been more apprehensive, but suddenly all he could think of was settling an old score by getting his hands on the boy.  
Robotnik was not ten feet from Sonic when the hedgehog yelled out "Now!" Sonic looked up and Robotnik followed his gaze. Something was hovering in the air about thirty feet above them, something small, and tawny-colored. It dropped a bright object, which Sonic caught in a jump. The next thing Robotnik knew, the air around him was swirling around and he was knocked off his feet. Looking to where Sonic had been, he saw that Sonic had moved, in less than a second, the length of a city block.  
"Hey, slow poke!" Sonic taunted. "What's the matter, time for your beauty nap? You need one, fella!" Speechless with surprise and anger, Robotnik picked himself off the ground. Snively was doing the same. The SWATbots that were with them, though, lay in pieces nearby. Robotnik scrambled back to his hover unit.  
"Get that hedgehog now, Snively!"  
"But Sir…"  
"No buts! I want him and that ring he's carrying!"  
With Robotnik on board, Snively took off after Sonic in the hover unit as Sonic began to lead them a merry chase. No matter how fast Snively drove the hovercraft, the hedgehog on foot was always just a little bit faster. Robotnik did not know how the boy did it, and he did not care; he would have his answers when Sonic was caught.  
Robotnik also did not know that the moment the hover unit left the scene, Sally and Rotor emerged from their hiding place in one of the row houses and ran back into Uncle Chuck's workshop.  
"Perfect, Sally! The Willow Tree Diversion never worked better!"  
"Let's just hope Sonic can keep from getting caught. Now, help me remove the power stone from this unit. Then we can meet the others back at the garbage dump." She placed her hand on the outside of the machine, then yelped and drew her hand away quickly.  
"That hatch is red hot! Looks like Sonic's Uncle Chuck didn't have his coolant problem solved after all."  
"No, he did solve it!" Rotor said with sudden realization. "Now I know where I've seen this before: at the bottom of the pool back in Knothole. He must have built a water-cooled version and installed it in Knothole before Robotnik took over. This must be his prototype!"  
"But how do we get the power stone out so we can get it back to Knothole?"  
"The best way is to turn the machine back on. It'll probably overheat, malfunction, and shut itself down."  
"Won't that harm the crystal?"  
"No, you don't have to worry about that."  
"Great!" Sally said as she threw the power switch on the machine.  
"What you do have to worry about," Rotor added, "is the possibility of this unit exploding."  
"What?"  
"Some of those old components have gotten pretty unstable over the years; they could act as bombs if the unit overheats."  
"Rotor, how bad could it be?"  
"The worst that can happen is it'll take out a block or two."  
"A block or…" Sally reached for the power switch. "Rotor! The switch is jammed; I can't shut it off!"

(End of Chapter 9)


	12. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Escape from the City

"Don't lose him, Snively! I must have him!"  
"Easy for you to say," Snively muttered under his breath, "you're not driving." Sonic was moving with a speed and agility he had never known before. Somehow, though, it all seemed so natural as if he had been born to do the impossible.  
Sonic was able to keep up a grueling pace and not feel any fatigue. He flew down streets and up alleys, doubled back and slipped under conduits and bridges. He did not want to slow down, not only because it might have meant his capture, but also because it felt so good to run.  
Snively, however, managed to stay on the young hedgehog's trail. He took some corners a little too sharply and he and Robotnik got knocked about in the process. Robotnik, however, kept his attention on the blue blur visible ahead of them.  
"Whoa, this looks interesting," Sonic thought as he found himself heading down a side street that turned into a dead end. An enormous skyscraper marked the end of the street.  
"We have him now, Snively! He's got nowhere else to go!"  
"Nowhere except up, Sir. Look!" Sonic was not about to let a little thing like a building stand in his way. He was on a roll and he just kept on rolling. He was running up the side of the building, propelled by momentum. Snively put the hover unit into a climb in the nick of time.  
"After him, after him! If that ring can enable him to do that…" Sonic was halfway up the building when he looked over his shoulder. Robotnik was keeping pace.  
"Man, this is getting boring!" He thought. In the blink of an eye, Sonic reversed directions and was running down the side of the building. He blew Robotnik a raspberry as he passed the hover unit. Snively quickly turned it around.  
"We're gaining, Snively!" They were almost on top of him. It was then, about fifty feet from the ground, that Sonic decided that he had better stop coasting and do some serious running. He pounded ahead, reached the ground, and streaked away. The hover unit, however, was in virtual free fall.  
"Pull up, Snively! Pull up!" Snively worked the controls, but the underside of the hover unit scraped the street. That was enough to sent the hover unit tumbling with all the aerodynamics of a stone skipping across a pond. By the time the hover unit came to rest its shell was pocked and torn, its windows were smashed, and its contents badly shaken.  
"Snively," Robotnik panted.  
"Y-yes, Sir?"  
"I have decided that I am going to make it one of the supreme goals of my life to get… that… hedgehog!" Snively rolled his eyes. Sonic raced back to the dump, where the others were gathered at their pre-arranged rendezvous point: the excavated remains of the slide.  
"Man, you shoulda seen ol' Buttnik eat my dust! I was…"  
"Sonic, not now!" Sally cut him off. "Get down!" It was only then that Sonic noticed that the others were lying prone on the ground.  
"Nap time already?"  
"Sonic, Rotor thinks that that ring unit is going to blow up!"  
"Say what?"  
"It's overheating and going unstable," Rotor added. I couldn't get the power stone out and…"  
"You mean that stone thingy is still in there?"  
"Of course, we…"  
"Chill, guys." And before anyone could say or do anything, Sonic took off toward Uncle Chuck's.  
"What are we to be doing?"  
"What can we do, Antoine?" Sally asked. "Sonic's gotten too fast for…" Anything else Sally might have said was drowned out by a deafening roar as the power ring unit exploded. In moments, the home of Sir Charles Hedgehog was engulfed in flames. The children stared at it silently.  
"Sonic?" Tails said in a hesitant voice.  
"That's my name, don't wear it out!" The children turned. There standing behind them, the power stone on the ground at his feet, was Sonic. Tails yelped and threw his arms around Sonic's neck.  
"Sonic! How did you…"  
"No biggie, Sal. I just yanked it out of there real fast. And from now on, "fast" is my middle name!"  
"This is what I was to be saying," Antoine sputtered, "about your unresponsibility and your utter fuelishness and your…" Antoine never got to finish his sentence as Sally touched him on the shoulder. For now they could all see that Sonic's demeanor had changed. He might have been careless when it came to putting his life on the line, but it was a more subdued Sonic who watched his Uncle Chuck's house, the only home he had ever known before Knothole, being consumed by fire. They watched for several silent seconds.  
"Come on," Sonic said quietly. "Let's go home."  
The children were subdued and apprehensive as they entered the Great Forest. But the farther they made their way, the louder and more animatedly they talked about what they had just done. Everyone except Tails who quickly succumbed to fatigue from the day's events. Sonic carried the cub in his arms the rest of the way back to Knothole.  
They also speculated as to what would happen to them if Rosie or Julayla ever found out. They each thought that they would be severely punished if either of the grown-ups found out about their experience, but they also all agreed that any punishment would be totally worth it.  
It was about two hours before dawn as the children neared Knothole. As they recognized that they were getting closer to Knothole, the children fell silent. Their luck had held in that they were able to get away undetected. If they could just get back and into bed before Rosie or Julayla learned of it, they would be home free.  
They edged toward the clearing. So far, so good: there were no lights on in any of the cabins. The children all made their way into the nearest cabin, which was Sonic's and Tails'.  
"How's Tails doing, Sonic?" Sally whispered.  
"The big guy's still asleep."  
"Good."  
"Ah can't see a thing, Sal. Think we can take a chance on lightin' a candle?" No sooner had she whispered these words than there was a hiss and a burst of light as someone at the far end of the room struck a match. The children froze as its light momentarily dimmed, and then the light grew stronger as someone had lit a candle with it. That someone was Julayla. She calmly blew out the match; the children each caught the smell of burnt sulfur. Julayla stood up.  
"Julayla, I…" Sally began. Julayla raised her hand.  
"There'll be time enough for talk in the morning," she said quietly, as she took the sleeping Tails in her arms and began putting him to bed. Rotor, Antoine, and the girls silently drifted away. Sonic wanted to say something to Julayla, but could not. Julayla did not say anything to Sonic as she left the cabin. The silent reproach hurt Sonic almost as much as watching his old home go up in flames.  
Despite the early hour at which the children had gone to bed, nobody slept in that morning. They all gathered in front of the dining hall but did not go in, except for Tails. He was as buoyant as ever as he raced from his hut. He even flew half the distance to the dining hall, since he figured that the secret was out.  
"Well, someone's in a good mood," Bunnie observed gloomily.  
"What to you think they'll do to us?" Rotor asked.  
"I don't know," Sally said.  
"Maybe it won't be so bad," Sonic suggested.  
"Right, Sonic," Sally shot back, "we only broke every rule in the book and then some! Well, let's get this over with," she added as she walked toward the door.  
As they entered the dining hall, Tails was already seated at a table with Julayla. Rotor volunteered to walk as close to their table as possible, in order to hear what was being said. He heard Tails happily recounting the events of the previous evening in one long run-on sentence:  
"…And then Sonic seen us when he came outside and Sally said for him to run so he runned away but real real fast and…"  
"So, how is it?" Bunnie asked.  
"It's bad, guys," Rotor said as he sat down at the table with the others. "I was listening to Tails just now. He's telling Julayla everything that happened last night."  
"How's Julayla taking it?" Sally asked.  
"Tails was making all kinds of grammatical errors, but Julayla didn't even stop and correct him once!" He put his head in his hands. "That's it: we're toast!"  
"How are you to be thinking of food at the time like this?" Sally was in no mood to say anything to Antoine just then, because they saw Julayla walking toward them.  
"Miles has told me what happened last night. Does anyone wish to add anything?"  
"I do," Sally said, her head bowed. "We should have trusted you, and told you and Rosie that Tails was missing."  
"But Sal," Sonic immediately said, "they'd have grounded us and we wouldn't have gotten Tails back."  
"Perhaps, perhaps not," Julayla said calmly. "But now you'll never know, will you?" This was enough to overwhelm Sonic's attempt at argument. While he and the other children contemplated this reply, Julayla went to the side cupboard where the school supplies were kept. She returned with paper and writing instruments. Sonic and the others anticipated that they would each have to write something long and chastening one hundred times. Just for starters. As the children passed the materials around to each other, Julayla began unfolding large old documents: they were maps of Mobotropolis.  
"I want each of you to study the maps that I've spread out on the table. Write out any changes in the city that you noticed last night. Be as detailed as possible. You'll probably want to compare notes with each other."  
"What kind of crazy punishment is this?" Sonic whispered to Sally.  
"This is not your punishment, Sonic. You've already brought a very severe punishment upon yourselves. Until yesterday, Robotnik had probably forgotten all about you; today, he knows better and you've given him a reason to look for you. Yesterday you were children playing a game; as of today, you are in a war. There is no worse punishment that I or anyone else could possibly inflict." The children looked at each other silently. Bunnie looked at Sally and silently mouthed the word "war."  
"It'll be okay, Bunnie, as long as we work together," she said softly. Then, in a louder voice she spoke to the others, "Okay, where did the trash heap begin? We know that it covered all of the playground where this park used to be…"  
"Sally," Julayla added, "your afternoon lessons will be held in my hut." The rest of the children stayed in the dining hall and finished the map. Once they were done, they all went outside and waited with anticipation around the pool just outside Knothole.  
Everyone except Rotor, who was somewhere under the water. With the exception of Rotor, none of the children particularly cared for the water. They could swim if they had to, but they were more at home on the land. This was especially true of Sonic, who could not swim a stroke.  
Rotor suddenly broke the surface, getting a breath of air. The others shook the water from themselves.  
"Stone's in, everybody! The machine started right up! If it's the same as the machine in Uncle Chuck's workshop it should be producing a power ring any time now."  
As the other children gathered as close to the edge of the pool as they dared, Julayla touched Sally on the shoulder. The two of them moved away from the group and walked toward Julayla's hut.  
Once inside, Julayla began writing something on a scrap of paper, which she then handed to Sally.  
"Commit this to memory. When you have done so, burn it. Leave no trace."  
"Why? What is this?"  
"It is a list of four settlements of refugees from Mobotropolis located in various parts of the Great Forest. These aren't their true locations: only the locations of drop sites where we leave the messages by which we communicate with each other. We wanted to keep from jeopardizing all of the settlements, so we devised this system. It's a good thing we did; one settlement, Birchwood, was discovered by SWATbots the other day and its inhabitants scattered."  
"There are others? But why…"  
"Why were you not told? None knew of the existence of the other camps except for one member of each, and even they did not know the precise location of the others."  
"But what were they doing?"  
"Surviving. Living in hiding. Living in fear. And waiting."  
"Waiting for what?"  
"Waiting for whom is more like it. They have no one to guide them, no one to formulate strategy and carry it out. I knew that the day would come when there would be a sign, a sign that we can begin to hope again; a sign that the time had come to begin resisting Robotnik. Your raid on Robotropolis last night was reckless and uncoordinated, but it was also the sign that the others and I had been waiting for. It was the sign that we finally have a leader amongst us." Julayla walked over to Sally and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. Things got very still and cold inside the hut.  
Suddenly they heard the sound of cheering outside. The machinery at the bottom of the pool had indeed produced a power ring. With ring in hand, Sonic was tearing up the turf of Knothole. He was just a blur as he streaked around and between the buildings. And as he ran, the other children began chanting his name.  
Sally and Julayla watched Sonic's dashing about. Then Sally spoke, with a startling bitterness in her voice, "Yes, you've got your leader…" She said no more, choked back a sob, and then ran from the hut. She ran across Sonic's path, and the sight managed to bring the hedgehog to a halt.  
"Chill, guys," he said to the others, "I'll be right back." Sonic walked around the corner of a hut. He saw Sally seated on a log, her face buried in her hands and her shoulders heaving. He quietly sat down a little way from her.  
Sally stopped crying and tried to adopt a formal appearance.  
"Tired of your adoring fans already?" she asked sarcastically.  
"Hey, Sal, you got too much class for that kind of a cheap shot."  
"I'm sorry," she sniffled. "I… I guess I'm just scared."  
"Scared of what?"  
"Sonic, everything's changed now! Julayla expects me to start acting like some kind of leader… and I don't know if I can."  
"What're you talking about, Sal? We found Tails, got Uncle Chuck's power ring machine working, and got in and out of Robotropolis in one piece! And we did it as a team, thanks to you. All I did was run fast. You're a great leader!"  
"But will the other Mobians feel that way?"  
"Say what?" So Sally told Sonic about the other camps hidden in the Great Forest.  
"Sonic we're talking about grown-ups here! Even if I am the heir to the throne, I'm still just a kid. Do you really think any grown-up would take orders from a ten-year-old girl?"  
"I would." Sonic said it so simply and sincerely that it surprised both of them. For several moments all the two of them could do was look at each other. For Sonic, it was as if he were looking at someone he had never known before. His hand slowly reached over and took hold of hers…  
Suddenly a chorus of hoots and whistles broke the stillness of the moment. Bunnie, Rotor, Antoine, and Tails were looking at them from around the corner of one of the huts.  
"Aw, man! Knock it off, you guys!" Sonic's face grew bright red, and Sally adopted that studied indifference which children sometimes mistake for maturity. And then the other four children began a traditional Mobian chant. It was a chant that further embarrassed Sonic and annoyed Sally, though there was a secret part of her that was glad to hear it. Later that night, after the children ate dinner and the dishes were cleaned, Sally called as official a meeting as could be in their small village. Once the children and the adults gathered in the mess hall, Sally started.  
"Tonight we have seen what has become of our home, Mobotropolis. In doing so, we have also let Doctor Robotnik know that we are here. As Princess and the sole heir to the throne, it is my duty to reclaim the throne as soon as possible and secure it for future generations to come. For this reason, I am organizing a group to fight against anyone who would take the throne from my family and your homes from you. I am naming this group the Freedom Fighters and I am naming myself as leader. I won't ask you to join if you don't want to." Sally explained. The other children remained quiet for a few seconds, and then there was movement towards the rear of the group. Sonic stood up and said,  
"I'll help kick some Robobutt. I'm in." The other children looked at Sonic and then one by one they all stood up. Julayla looked on as the children committed themselves to fighting the Overlander who had taken over Mobotropolis. Finally, each child had stood up and volunteered to join the Freedom Fighters and now they were cheering and slapping each other high-fives. After a few minutes, they all quieted down and Julayla stepped forward from where she was standing.  
"Princess, I'm proud of you for doing this… and I'm proud of each and every one of you for stepping forward to take up such a responsibility. There are few citizens who would take up something as great as you children have. But, as happens every night… it's time for bed. For once, you don't have to hurry to get to bed. Tomorrow is a big day for all of us… it will mark the beginning of the resistance. Good night children." Julayla said as she walked around the mess hall extinguishing the candles one by one. Once she was done, she and the children went back to their huts and settled in for the night.

(End of Chapter 10)


	13. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Dreams and Discoveries

That night as Aaron and Sam slept, she dreamt about their short journey to Mobius. In her dream, she saw the castle taken over the same that they witnessed while they were there. In her dream, there was one difference; when she and Aaron came back to Earth, the human who had taken over the Mobian city followed them back to Earth. When she awoke from the dream, she woke to find she was back in her bedroom in her house. She reached over and turned on the light on her nightstand. Sitting there was a computer, about the size of her hand. Her first instinct was to call Aaron and let him know about the computer that she discovered, but as she sat in her bed and thought it over, she decided that she would take it over to his house the following day. Now that she was more awake, Sam got out of bed and picked the small computer up and took it over to her desk and turned on the light there.  
She set the computer on the desk and opened the cover. Underneath the cover was a dozen buttons of unmarked function and built into the cover was a screen. Not knowing what any of the buttons did, Samantha pressed the only round one assuming that it was a power button. The screen came to life and the buttons started to glow as if backlit. Once it was turned on, Sam waited for it to display some kind of logo or something on the small screen and was somewhat disappointed when it did not. The screen seemed to be stuck on displaying a straight line across it. Assuming there was something wrong with it, she started to close the cover.  
"I am Nicole One." Samantha looked around her room for the source of the voice, but could not find it.  
"Who… who said that?" Samantha asked. One of the lights on the computer blinked and Samantha opened it again.  
"I am Nicole One." The small computer stated again. As it spoke, the straight line on its display jumped in response to its voice.  
"You can speak?" Samantha asked the computer. Now she was sure that Aaron would want to see the computer.  
"I am programmed to speak many languages, as well as many other things." It said in an almost feminine voice. Then one of the lights blinked again and continued to blink as if it was prompting Samantha to press it. She pressed the button.  
"In order to start setup, please state your name in a normal tone of voice." It asked with a somewhat more masculine voice. Samantha stared at the small computer.  
"Uhhh… Samantha Collen."  
"Please state location." Samantha thought to herself,  
'This can't want until tomorrow… Aaron's gotta see this!' Samantha ran over and grabbed her phone and dialed Aaron's number. After four rings, Aaron picked up.  
"Ummm… hello?" He answered, his speech slurred by sleep.  
"Aaron… it's me, Sam. I've got something you've got to see! It's a computer…" She started to explain.  
"Can't it wait until mornin'?" He asked, sounding a little more awake.  
"The computer's asking me questions… with a voice! I need your help because I don't know what it's askin' me for." She waited for this to sink into his sleepy brain.  
"Alright… give me a few minutes… gotta get dressed. I'll be there in ten minutes." He said, now sounding fully awake. At that, they both hung up the phone and she went back to the desk and the computer, which was impatiently blinking one of the buttons. She pressed it.  
"Please state location."  
"Uhhh… Earth." Samantha said not sure what it was asking for. It blinked a couple of its lights quickly and then spoke again.  
"Accessing GPS networks… awaiting confirmation… location confirmed as being Texarkana, Arkansas. Is this correct?" Samantha stared at the small computer. It was only about the size of her hand, and yet it just accessed the worldwide Global Positioning System on its own.  
"Yes it is."  
"Setup completed… voice recognition setup completed… thank you." It said before blinking a series of lights. Then in the female voice,  
"Thank you, Samantha. I am sure you have many questions for me and I assure you I can answer all of them."  
"How did you end up in my room?" Sam asked the computer, blushing slightly at realizing how odd it would look to talk to a computer as she was doing.  
"I followed you back here through the portal." The computer stated.  
"Where did you come from?" Samantha asked it.  
"That information is classified. Only my previous owner can access that data." The computer said.  
"What are you capable of?" The computers lights blinked before it generated a hologram in the air in front of Sam.  
"I am capable of accessing GPS networks, Internet communication over all known protocols, remote access of computers, speaking every known Earth-based language, long and short range scanning…" The computer listed as it displayed each capability in the hologram. Samantha heard someone knocking on the front door and went downstairs to answer it.  
"Aaron… sorry to call you so early in the morning, but I found something that you've gotta see!" Samantha said, taking Aaron's hand and practically dragging him upstairs to her room. As soon as Sam entered the room, the computer resumed speaking its list of capabilities.  
"Nicole, that's okay." Samantha said to the computer, which stopped speaking and acknowledged Samantha. She then turned to Aaron, "I woke up from a weird dream about that planet, and I found that on my nightstand. I don't know where it came from or anything, other than it calls itself Nicole and understands plain English." Samantha said as she led Aaron into her room. Aaron was hesitant to go into her room because he had never been into a girl's bedroom before. She managed to get him over to her desk where the computer sat silently.  
"Nicole… how do I allow another user to operate you?" Samantha asked the small machine. The computer blinked two lights.  
"New user… please state your name in a normal tone of voice." The masculine voice prompted.  
"Umm… Aaron Brandt." Aaron said. He glanced at Samantha and mouthed the words, 'This feels so weird!'  
"User named Samantha… do you wish to setup any more users?" It asked.  
"No… can you restrict access to me and Aaron?"  
"Access restrictions set. Thank you." It said before turning back to the feminine voice.  
"Go ahead and ask it anything… the speech recognition is really accurate." Samantha knew Aaron would want to ask it lots of questions.  
"Umm… Nicole, where are you from?" He asked nervously. Obviously, he was a little uncomfortable talking to a computer.  
"That information is restricted. Only my original owner can access that information." Nicole stated.  
"Who was your original owner?" Aaron asked.  
"That information in restricted. Only my original owner can access that information." It stated again. Aaron scratched his head.  
"What can you tell me about your internal hardware?" Aaron asked, motioning for Sam to hand him a notebook and a pencil. Three of the small computers keys blinked and then it generated a hologram and began to list everything it was programmed to know about itself.  
"I am powered by an ion battery; for a processor, I have a twenty terahertz microprocessor; data is stored on a five-hundred gigabyte memory cell; I have a full spectrum holograph projector; five sub-channel speech synthesizer. I can also function as a universal translator and connect to the Internet through all known protocols, as well as communicate with any satellite in orbit." Nicole finished as Aaron struggled to keep up. Once it was done, Aaron went back over the notes he had scribbled on the notebook.  
"Samantha… from looking at this, I can tell you that there's nothing even remotely like this anywhere on Earth. You said that you found this thing on your nightstand?" Aaron asked, double-checking the numbers.  
"Yeah… I woke after having a dream about Mobius. In the dream, that fat human we saw took over the castle just the same as we saw and then he followed us back here. I woke up and found that sitting next to my bed. What should we do with it?" Samantha asked. Aaron thought for a couple seconds, then went back over and asked the computer something.  
"Nicole… do you have any data ports built into yourself?"  
"I have one data port built into me. It is located on the bottom edge of me. It is currently hidden behind a dust guard. Would you like me to move the dust guard aside?" Nicole asked.  
"No, it's okay… I'll take a look at it some other time." He said before taking Sam outside her room. "Sam… you know what this means? That's a computer that speaks plain English and seems to be somewhat cognitive!"  
"Huh?"  
"It's a computer that understands plain English and can also talk! Programmers have been working on developing something like that ever since computers gained the ability to produce sounds. Even the best ones today have error rates around fifty percent… they misunderstand about half of what you'll say. Better yet… if it's correct… that one said it's powered by an ion battery."  
"What's an ion battery?"  
"I'm not entirely sure… but I know we don't have anything remotely like it. I say bring it to school tomorrow with you… maybe I can have the electronics teacher look at it or something. Meanwhile… mind if I just doze off on your couch for a couple hours until we gotta go to school?" Aaron asked before yawning.  
"Yeah… if you want. I'll be getting up around six thirty or so." Samantha said before digging through her closet for a spare blanket and pillow for Aaron. Once she found one, she climbed back into bed and Aaron went downstairs and made himself a bed on the couch and fell asleep almost immediately. As Aaron slept, he dreamt.  
He dreamt that the fat man they saw on Mobius took over his hometown instead of the city on Mobius. In the dream, most of the people in Aaron's hometown were killed during the invasion; the only person left was Aaron. Just before the fat man came after Aaron, he woke up. At first he was slightly disoriented, then he remembered the other night. He had come over to Sam's house after she called at three in the morning and then he fell asleep on the couch at her house. Aaron could hear Sam upstairs listening to a Led Zeppelin album.  
'She must be getting ready.' He thought to himself. Walking into the kitchen, he eventually found some cereal and had a couple bowls. After a few minutes, Sam came down ready for school.  
"Hey… I see you're already up. You have your school stuff with you?" Sam asked, sitting down at the table and digging Nicole out of her backpack.  
"Yep… I'd forgotten it in the car last night and drove here when you called. What time do ya get done with class today?" Aaron asked, checking his own schedule.  
"I get done at one thirty. Why you ask?" Sam asked, looking up from her schedule.  
"Neile doesn't have any classes today, so I was thinking of taking the car over to his place so he could take a look at it. He mentioned it before I dropped him off at his place the other night, and it would be interesting to have someone who knows more about cars than I do give it a good inspection. I'm done with classes at one forty-five, so if ya want to come with, wanna meet by the doors to the parking lot?" Aaron answered, walking with Sam out to the car.  
"Yeah… one question though… you think I could drive the car sometime?" Sam asked as they got in the car. Aaron started it and they started the short drive to school.  
"You know how to drive?"  
"I've driven enough to know which is brake and gas. Like you said, it can almost drive itself." Sam said before detaching the screen that was attached to the dashboard in front of her. Out of curiosity, she plucked Nicole from her backpack's outer pocket and opened the display on the small computer. "Nicole… can you remove the dust guard on your data port?" The computer slid it into its small case. Sam turned Nicole over in her hand to look at the port on Nicole and then closely looked at the one on the car. "Aaron… I think these data ports are identical. Wonder what would happen if I connected Nicole to the car's computers?" Aaron glanced over at the one on Nicole and the one in the dashboard.  
"Try it and see." Aaron said, glancing over Sam's direction every chance he got. After a couple tries, Sam managed to figure out which side should be up and plugged Nicole into the dashboard. As soon as Nicole was connected, several hidden panels in the dashboard opened up exposing what they hid. Inside one of them was a CD-ROM with a name hastily scribbled on the label, while another contained a book written in the same hasty hand. Inside the last panel was another CD-ROM, except this one was carefully labeled 'Information About Lamborghini Special'. Sam picked up the book and flipped through some of the pages.  
"Looks like a journal of some sort, though the writing is horrible. I can't read a word of it. The two discs look interesting… wanna check 'em out in study hall?" Sam asked, trying to read the book.  
"Yeah… I'll take one and see if I can get out of one of my classes early and get into the computer lab. I'll take the one with the sloppy writing and see what I can find out 'bout it." He said as he tucked the disc safely away within his backpack. Sam tucked the one with the careful labeling on it into hers and turned her attention to Nicole. "Nicole… what can you do while connected to the car?" Nicole projected a smaller hologram in front of Sam.  
"I am capable of driving it myself using my long and short range scanning ability, complete interface with the onboard computers, interface with any computer networks we pass by, GPS navigation, and all of my normal functions." Nicole explained as she displayed graphic representations of each function via the hologram. They had reached the school's parking lot and Aaron maneuvered the large car into one of the few remaining parking spots. Once he had the car parked, Sam unplugged Nicole from the dashboard and tucked the small computer into her backpack with the disc. They both jogged up to the school and went their separate ways to class.  
At his first opportunity, Aaron asked permission from his science teacher to go down to the computer lab as soon as that day's lesson was done. Being that Aaron was doing as well as he was in science, the teacher let Aaron miss class and wrote him a hall pass to go to the computer lab. Once there, Aaron haggled with the computer lab advisor for access to one of the few computers that had a CD-ROM and, if needed, access to storing data on the hard drive. Once he was signed in and the teacher explained the rules to him about using the computer in administrator mode, Aaron popped the disc into the CD-ROM drive and waited as it loaded the disc before bringing up a disc drive window for the disc. On the disc, there were dozens of video files, each one dated and catalogued according to the accompanying text file.  
Sam, meanwhile, waited patiently through her classes until her study lab where she got a hall pass from the teacher and went down to the computer lab where Aaron was intently listening to one of the video files through a pair of headphones. Sam sat down next to Aaron and logged into the computer network as one of the few students who knew the administrator access codes. She inserted her disc and waited for it to load. After a few seconds, she was able to open the drive and see what was on the disc. After opening a few of the files, she concluded that the files on the disc made up the extensive service and instruction manual for the Lamborghini. After lots of searching and find commands, she found several documents that appeared to be important and printed them.  
Once their study hall was over with, Aaron and Samantha informed each other of what their discs contained as they walked back to their classes. The rest of the day passed quite fast and once the bell sounded at the end of the day, Sam and Aaron met up with Neile and arranged the best time for them to go over to Neile's house so he could look at the car some more. Deciding to meet at his house once Aaron and Sam dropped off their school bags at Aaron's house, Aaron and Samantha got in the Lamborghini and drove back to Aaron's house.

(End of Chapter 11)


	14. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 The First Vacation

Once Aaron and Sam got back to his place, they both had a quick dinner and then went to bed early. The next day they did not have school so they were able to sleep in. Both of them got up around noon and set about cleaning the car up a little before taking it over to Neile's house. Once they had it cleaned up and ready for Neile to look at, Aaron let Sam drive it over to his house.  
"Sam, you're sure that you can drive?" Aaron asked nervously as she climbed into the drivers seat.  
"Aaron… I'm surprised! I'd think you'd have more confidence in me than that! Trust me… I've driven more times than you'd think. And, if I remember right, you're the one who said that this thing can practically drive itself… so, we shouldn't have anything to worry about." Sam reminded Aaron. Before he had a chance to argue any more, Sam started the Lamborghini up and hit the button to open the door. Once the door was open, she backed the car out perfectly and she drove the mile and a half to Neile's house. All the way there, Aaron had Nicole hack the car's computers and tell him what was on each one. By the time they got to Neile's house, Aaron had learned that the car had three computers built into it that controlled the various systems in it. Once at Neile's, they parked the car in front of the house and Aaron went up to the house and knocked on it.  
"Why, hello Aaron! How're you doing?" Miss Pederson, Neile's mother, asked.  
"I'm doing pretty good. Would Neile happen to be home?" Aaron asked. Miss Pederson turned around and called back into the house. About a couple minutes later, Neile came down from his room.  
"Hey Aaron! What's up dude?" Neile asked.  
"Brought the car over so you could take a look at it." Aaron reminded Neile. Neile had forgotten about his inspecting the car. He told Aaron to bring it around to the garage and Neile ran around back to the garage. Aaron ran back out to the car and had Sam drive it around to the garage where Neile was waiting. Immediately, Neile went to work with inspecting what he could without any tools. Once he had taken his first look at the engine and the interior, he came back to where Sam and Aaron were standing talking with Nicole.  
"Aaron… mind if I remove that undercarriage shield to have a look at the drivetrain?"  
"Yeah… I'll pull the power supply and disable the engine. Got any gloves around here?" Aaron asked as he came back to the car and opened the cases where the giant crystals sat. Neile went back into the garage, and after some digging, found a pair of gardening gloves. After some careful balancing, Aaron was able to get both crystals from their cases and carry them back to where Sam was standing. He gently laid them on the ground and went back over and disconnected the battery. "Okay… just don't wreck anything under there."  
"I won't… I know my way around cars, dude." Neile mumbled as he set up the hydraulic jacks under the edges of the frame. Once he had the car lifted up high enough to slide under it, he set about removing the screws holding the plate of metal in place. Once he had the plate of metal off and lying next to the car, he got back up and got himself several trouble lights. Once he had them, he climbed back under the car and continued inspecting it.  
The drivetrain was laid out simple enough; transmission, driveshaft, rear differential. Like all other Lamborghini's, this one was also equipped with front-wheel drive. The one thing Neile did not recognize was a retractable extension for the driveshaft. After some searching, he also came across a bundle of wires leading from where the backseat was to two sealed boxes located next to the rear wheels. Climbing out from under the car and looking behind the rear wheels, he was able to find the screws to open the boxes. In order to get to them, he would have to remove the rear wheels.  
"Hey Aaron… can I remove the rear wheels? Found something I wanna look at and I've gotta remove the wheels to get at it." Neile asked as he walked over to where Aaron and Sam were lounging on the porch. Aaron got up and met Neile halfway.  
"Yeah… I'll help. Don't wanna make you do all the work now." Aaron said as he followed Neile back to the car. Once there, Aaron dug around the trunk, which was located in the front and found the tire wrench and the key to remove the security nut on the wheels. After some trying and a few banged knuckles, they managed to get both tires off the car. Once that was done, Neile had access to the mystery panels on both sides of the car. Again, after trying various screwdrivers and hex-head wrenches on them, he got the panels off. Inside, surrounded by a refrigeration coil, were two motors the likes of which Neile had never seen before. The motors drove a gearing system that was hooked directly to the rear wheels. Once Neile was sure he had seen all there was to see, he set about the task of putting everything back in place and finally replacing the wheels, which again required Aaron's help. Finally, once the car was done being inspected by Neile, Aaron picked up the crystals one at a time and began placing them in their receptacles. On picking the first one up, he noticed something had changed.  
"Neile… how tall was the grass when I got here?" Aaron asked, not sure what had happened.  
"I dunno… maybe an inch and a half. Why?" Aaron set the crystal down on the concrete and took Neile over to where the larger of the crystals had been laying. Where it had been, the grass underneath and around it had nearly tripled in size; it now stood almost as high as Neile's knee.  
"I think these crystals cause things to grow… incredible!" Aaron exclaimed as he plucked a few blades of grass from the area. "Think I might bring these to my biologist friend and have him check them out." Aaron said as he dug around inside his car for another sandwich baggie. Once he found one, he put the blades of grass in it and sealed it shut.  
"Weird… well, the car appears to be fine. There's stuff in the thing that I can't identify, but it appears to be fine. Sometime you wanna show me what that thing can do?" Neile asked as he picked the second crystal up and carried it back to the car. Aaron walked back over and picked the larger one up and carried it over to the car and installed it again, then he took the one Neile was carrying and installed that one. Once they were both back in the car, the computers started back up and went through their various boot sequences. As the car booted back up Neile, Aaron, and Sam went back into the house to get something to drink. Miss Pederson greeted them and got their drinks for them and the four of them talked for a bit and then Aaron, Samantha and Neile went back outside.  
"Well, I'll see you in school in a couple weeks. You two going anywhere over Spring Break?" Neile asked. Aaron walked over by the door so it would open, as did Sam.  
"Well, we were thinking of maybe taking a short trip back to Mobius. Hey… you wanna come with? We've got plenty of room once this thing is morphed." Aaron asked as he and Sam got back in the car.  
"Dude… that'd be awesome! Sure you guys wouldn't mind? I mean, I wouldn't be intruding would I?" Neile asked. This time, Sam cut Aaron off and answered,  
"Nah… we'd love to have you come with. Like Aaron said, we have the room. We're planning on going there for like three days and camping there. All we gotta figure out is when we wanna leave and pack; otherwise we've got the route there planned out already."  
"Well, we can leave at any time really… when would you wanna leave?" Aaron asked Neile.  
"Whenever you wanna. I don't want to hurry you two or anything. All I'd have to do is pack some clothes and help with getting some food packed for camping and I'd be ready. Would you two wanna leave tonight?" Neile asked. Aaron and Sam looked at each other and then Sam replied,  
"Yeah, we could do that. I'm not sure how we should do everything though… Aaron?"  
"Well, we can just wait here while you pack your clothes, then we can run back to my house and me and Sam can pack our stuff. After that, we can stop by a store someplace and get some food and then we can leave." Aaron decided after a moments thought. At that, Neile ran back into his house and Aaron and Sam followed. Once they were in the house, Aaron and Sam explained what was going on to Neile's mom.  
"Where you three going to be going?" She asked.  
"We're going up to my parents cabin up north. We'll only be gone for a few days." Aaron answered. Upstairs in his room, Neile was busy packing a couple changes of clothes as he had done many times before. Neile had been in scouts for many years and attended almost every one of the camping trips, so he was familiar with hurried packing.  
"Well, have fun and be safe. If you kids are going to be home late or anything happens, just call and let me know what happened." Miss Pederson said. Neile came back downstairs with his backpack slung over his shoulder.  
"Well, I'm ready. Let's get going before we lose anymore light. Bye mom… we'll be fine, don't worry." Neile told his mom.  
"Alright. Have fun and don't get into any trouble." Neile's mom said as she hugged Neile.  
"I won't." Neile said as the three teenagers left the house and piled into Aaron's car and went back to Aaron's house to get Aaron's and Sam's stuff. Once they arrived there, Aaron and Sam went to their rooms and packed a couple changes of clothes and grabbed what food he had around the house and piled back into the car. From Aaron's house, they went to the nearest store and bought enough food to keep them from starving on a three-day camping trip. Once they had everything they could need, Sam drove to the same highway they had first jumped to Mobius from. Once there, she had Aaron plug Nicole into the dashboard with instructions to take over driving in case she got too far off course.  
The jump from the highway on Earth to the space highway went as it had before and before they knew it, they had passed the sign post and were well on their way to Mobius. About halfway to the planet, Samantha had Nicole take over driving while she took a quick nap. Aaron and Neile were already napping. When they woke up, they were approaching Mobius. Neile was awe-struck at the resemblance to Earth. Sam slowed the car down as they got closer the planet for better control. Sam brought the car out of the portal without any difficulty.  
Once they had arrived at the planet's surface, Neile could not believe his eyes.

(End of Chapter 12)


	15. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Return to Paradise: First trip

As the car touched down on the surface of Mobius just outside the forest, Aaron and Sam doubted that they had landed in the right place at all; nothing looked familiar to their eyes. Where the castle they had seen last time they were on Mobius had stood was now an egg-shaped structure, which was partially completed. Rising from the newly placed structure was a cloud of smog.  
"What happened? We were here only five days ago!" Aaron noted as he dug around the car for Nicole. He had forgotten that he had connected it to the cars computer system and unplugged it from the port in the dashboard. Sam promptly took the computer from Aaron.  
"Nicole… what can you tell us about the new structure?" Sam asked. Two of the computers lights blinked as it attempted to connect with the GPS network.  
"Insufficient data. Cannot connect to GPS network. Will attempt to hack into remote computer system to retrieve data." Nicole said as the computer flashed several messages across its display. After a couple minutes of silence, the computer spoke again. "Connection established to Robotropolis mainframe… retrieving GPS data… data retrieved… accessing data…" Nicole then displayed a three-dimensional map of the planet before zooming down to their current location. "You are here. Robotropolis is here. Distance to city from present location: five miles." Nicole said as small points of red light appeared on the map indicating what the computer was saying. Aaron tilted Nicole towards him.  
"What's inside and beyond the forest?"  
"That information is restricted. It can only be accessed by my original owner." Nicole replied.  
"Robotropolis? It's impossible… improbable… unbelievable!" Neile exclaimed, listening to the computer and looking around.  
"Dude… it's not only possible, but we're here. Believe it… we're on Mobius, a little over five miles from Robotnik's command center and about three miles away from Knothole village." Aaron explained in short to Neile who still did not believe it. Sam closed the computer and went over to the car where Aaron joined her shortly.  
"Where should we setup camp? From what you told me the other night, we don't wanna get too close to Robotropolis or Knothole, so where should we camp?" Sam asked, sitting down on the edge of the drivers seat.  
"I think the safest place to camp would be inside the forest… we can leave the car parked outside of the forest and just cover the car with something. Where we are right now, we're between Robotropolis and Knothole; if we go north or west, we risk being seen on Robotnik's radars, if we go east, we risk being seen by Knothole. Our best bet is to stay here and hope our luck holds for our camping trip." Aaron said as he opened all the doors and started pulling the camping supplies out. The three of them set the camping gear around the perimeter of the car and eventually got the tent and the small cooking stove set up.  
By the time they got everything setup and arranged, it was nearing dusk and all three of them were getting hungry. On Aaron's decision, they broke out the snacks that Aaron had brought with. Aaron had Sam and Neile throw the wrappers and garbage in an empty bag and put it in the car to minimize their impact on the area. As for the car, Aaron and Neile were able to camouflage the car with whatever they could find and once they were sure it was satisfactorily hidden, they got ready for bed, and climbed into the tent and eventually fell asleep.

All night, Sally slept restlessly. Her dreams kept revolving around Robotropolis, her former home. The dreams consisted of visions of what had come to be called 'The Betrayal'. In the dreams, Sally saw the takeover the same as it had really happened, except she kept seeing fleeting images of other humans hiding behind the courtyard pillars. The images of the other humans were unlike the humans she had seen in the history books; these humans wore different clothes and had different hairstyles. In the dream, the humans had set up a camp of sorts just beyond the forest.  
When Sally awoke from the dream, she told Julayla of the dream.  
"Well, what were your feelings about the dream?" Julayla asked after a moment of silence. Sally thought about it a little bit before answering.  
"Well, I'm not sure. I think it had something to do with Robotnik, but why were there three of them?"  
"That I cannot say… it could be a sign of things to come. That or it is a sign of things as they are right now. I would suggest looking around the forest and checking if the dream has any basis in reality." Julayla answered. Sally thanked her and left. Immediately, Sally went in search of Sonic and found him waiting by the pond for that days power ring.  
"Sonic… can you take me to the forest border?" Sally asked.  
"Yeah, once I get the ring. What's up?" Sonic asked, turning his gaze from the pond to Sally and back. Sally sat down on the fallen log that lay at the edge of the pond and explained her dream and what Julayla had said to Sonic. As she finished talking, Sonic reached out and caught the ring. "Alright… we can go. Grab my shoulders and hold on, 'cause here we go!" Sonic said. Sally grabbed Sonic's shoulders and they left to the edge of the forest.

"Aaron and Sam, my sensors indicate something heading this way. Advice: seek cover." Nicole said as the computer generated a holographic map of the area with a point of light where they were and one speeding towards them. Aaron ran back to the car and quickly dug through the bag that he had brought with looking for the camera he had with. Once he found it, he closed the car door and ran back to where Neile and Sam were hiding. Aaron had the only good vantage point from which he was able to see what came into the clearing he was watching.  
In the clearing before him were a squirrel and a hedgehog, both of which were walking on their hind legs. As quietly and quickly as he could, Aaron snapped several pictures of them at varying shutter speeds and angles.  
"Sonic… you see anything strange about this clearing?" The squirrel asked with a slightly European accent. The hedgehog glanced around the clearing before answering.  
"Notathing… should there be?" The hedgehog asked in an almost northern accent. The squirrel walked over closer to where the car was hidden and then turned around and walked over to where the hedgehog stood impatiently tapping his foot. Aaron wished he had a video camera with him so he could tape some of what he was seeing. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sam inching closer to him amongst the trees. He motioned for her to go back to where Neile was standing but she did not pay attention to him. Neile was leaning against the tree rapidly sketching in a notebook.  
"I'm not sure… Julayla suggested I come out here and look to see if anything was different between this and my dream, and so far I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. You want to head back to Knothole?" The squirrel asked Sonic.  
"Only if you want to, Sally. I'm not in any rush." Sonic said with a mischievous grin. Sam was finally standing next to Aaron watching Sonic and Sally. She motioned for the camera and Aaron handed it to her. She looked through it and played around with the focusing mechanism until she got it where she wanted it.  
"Okay… there's nothing out of place here. The dream must have been trying to tell me something else… I'll have to ask Julayla about it again when we get back. Let's go." Sally said before wrapping her arms around Sonic. Once he was sure she had a good tight hold of him, Sonic took off running at full speed around the forest until they were out of sight of Aaron, Sam, and Neile. Once the three humans were sure that the animals were gone, they came out of hiding.  
"Neile… you still doubt anything?" Sam asked. Neile looked up from his hastily drawn sketch.  
"All I'm going to say is I wanna see those pictures when they get developed. That and I wanna get a closer look at these creatures before I'm sure about anything." Neile said as he looked from his drawings to Aaron and Sam. Aaron was glad he had the foresight to camouflage the car, tent, and camping site the other night when they had arrived.  
"Okay… we'll walk to Knothole, but remember… no contact. We can't come into contact with them unless absolutely needed… if we do, we'll be putting too much at risk." Aaron said as he tossed a few things into a pack and slung it over his shoulder. Sam tucked Nicole in one of the outside pockets and Neile stuffed one of his many notebooks inside Aaron's pack before leaving. By Aaron's estimate, the walk from the car to Knothole would take an hour if they hurried. Once they made it to Knothole, the first thing Aaron did was use up the rest of the roll of film he had started by sneaking around the perimeter of the village and snapping pictures where he could. Once the film was used up, Aaron came back to where Sam was waiting. Neile was no place to be seen.  
"Sam, where'd he go?"  
"He said something about having to see this for himself. I tried to stop him, but he just pushed past me." Aaron rolled his eyes.  
"Great… which way did he go?"  
"Towards the village. What would he be looking for?" Sam asked.  
"Easy… he'd look for anything he can get his hands on. Come on… we've gotta find him!" Aaron answered as he slung his pack over his shoulder and led Samantha into the forest. She followed close behind as they worked their way closer and closer to the village, hiding behind trees and shrubs when needed. Finally, they reached the village. From where they were, they could hear part of a conversation between two of the animals in the village.  
"Where ya go off to, Sally-girl?" Bunnie asked as Sally got back to the village. The children were outside playing and running and having fun. Sonic and Tails were chasing each other while the rest of the children watched and chased after the two.  
"Had a dream this morning… just had to check it out and think it over. Nothing serious." Sally reassured Bunnie. She still could not help but feel that the dream had some kind of basis in reality. Sally shrugged her shoulders momentarily before taking part in the games the other children were playing. Aaron and Sam sat at the edge of the village surveying it, looking for any signs that Neile was hiding someplace inside it. After searching amongst the shadows and looking around the edges of buildings for twenty minutes, Aaron was sure his friend was not in the village someplace. He went back and reported this to Sam.  
"Well, what can we do? You said we couldn't have any contact with the animals here." Sam asked. Aaron shrugged his shoulders.  
"I dunno… I think the only thing we can do is wait it out. Eventually, I'm sure he's going to need food and a place to sleep, so we should just wait back at the car for him. If he doesn't show up by tonight, we might have to make first contact with the animals." Aaron answered. He and Sam began the three-mile walk back to the car and camping site as night began to fall. By Nicole's estimate, they had at least three hours before daylight drew to a close. Sitting around the campsite, Sam and Aaron talked about what they knew about the planet and its residents. By the time night fell heavily on the forest, both of them were getting sleepy. As the night wore on, Sam dozed off first and Aaron soon followed suit, unable to keep his eyes open anymore.  
When he woke up in the morning, the campsite was still the same way it was when he had fallen asleep the night before. Neile still was not back to the campsite, so Aaron began planning how he could manage a first contact. After about forty minutes, Sam woke up and climbed out of the tent.  
"Hey Aaron. What're you doing up so early?" Sam asked, digging through the cooler of food for something to eat.  
"Couldn't sleep… just thinking mainly. Neile isn't back yet, so I'm not sure what we should do."  
"You mentioned something called first contact yesterday… what's that?"  
"That's when we make contact for the first time with another race. But, I hope we can find him without having to make contact with the natives." Aaron went back to the car and dug the small butane stove out to make a quick breakfast. After the breakfast, Aaron and Sam began the process of trying to plan out what they were going to do to locate Neile. With the help of Nicole, they were able to map out a route through the forest to the borders of Knothole. From Knothole, they had also a route laid out that would take them to the outside of Robotropolis and then back to the campsite.  
"Okay… let's leave. We should be able to make it from here to Knothole to Robotropolis before dark. If we don't find him by then, we'll make first contact." Aaron said. At that, they left for the village and arrived within an hour. When they arrived, the village was empty. Aaron and Sam both snuck around to the huts and peeked in each one and eventually decided that there was no one in the village. Once Aaron was sure that his friend was not in the village, he and Sam left for the city of Robotropolis.

(End of Chapter 13)


	16. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 Robotropolis

The city of Mobotropolis had been built thousands of years ago and had stood through three wars, including the Great War. At its heart, Acorn Castle had stood through those same wars that had been waged at its doorstep and backyard. And, sitting in the throne for all those thousands of years since it had been built, was an Acorn. An Acorn had always held the throne through all the wars and upheavals that had occurred throughout the past three thousand years.  
That had all changed when Julian Kintobar came to Mobotropolis and became Warlord for one week. After that, everything changed. Kintobar renounced his heritage, changed his name, and took over the kingdom in one day. Once King Maximillian Acorn was dethroned, Ivo Robotnik began rebuilding the city in his image. Acorn Castle became his base of operations while the city became his manufacturing plant.  
Mobotropolis became Robotropolis, the throne becoming his command chair, the citizens of the former Mobotropolis becoming his slaves. He turned the citizens of the city into his slaves through the same process that turned Sir Charles Hedgehog's brother into a robot. With a few modifications, Robotnik was able to roboticize almost the entire populace of the city in less than two weeks. The newly roboticized citizens of the former kingdom became workers in Robotnik's factories. Robotnik's factories produced pollution, robots, and toxic waste in his conquest to take over the planet and remake it in his image, polluting and destroying everything in his path.  
The command center stood over a hundred feet high and was shaped like an egg, and had hundreds of cables, each the size of a house, running from the base of it to the adjacent structures. Each of the other buildings was squat and square and filled with humming machinery and computers. Around the perimeter of the entire compound, Robotnik had constructed a giant wall twenty feet in height, which was guarded by his SWATbots and remote control cameras. Deep inside the city, Robotnik and his assistant stood and looked out the windows at the top of the command center.  
"Snively, look at it: it's all ours! All the pollution, toxic waste, factories… we could control the planet in a matter of days!" Robotnik spoke. His assistant, Snively, was his nephew from Earth. They had been traveling from Miami to Bermuda when the plane they were on crashed into Mount Mobius.  
"Yes, sir. But what about the blue hedgehog we chased the other day?" Snively asked in his nasal voice.  
"Ahh, yes… the hedgehog. He's nothing to worry about. Remember… we have size on our side; we're larger, stronger, more powerful than any Mobian could ever hope to be." Robotnik said, turning away from the window. "Snively, they don't stand a chance against us. No one does… we'll destroy them without a problem." Behind Robotnik, one of the monitors starting blinking. Snively ran over and pulled up the information from the camera network.  
"Sir, a human has been detected approaching the compound from the North." Snively said, looking at the controls and video feeds for the camera system. Robotnik went to the control panel and scanned through the SWATbot video feeds, hoping that the hedgehog would have the courage to try a direct attack on his fortress. On one of the cameras, he spotted a human sneaking around the shadows at the edge of the forest. "Shall I dispatch the 'bots?" Robotnik walked over and looked at the camera view. Snively had the commands typed into the computer, all it was waiting for was someone to enter the activation command that would bring the robots out of patrol mode.  
"No… I'll handle this one." Robotnik said as he spun on his heel and walked out the door. He boarded the lift and arrived on the ground floor within a few minutes. Once there, he picked his portable roboticizer from the weapons rack and went outside.

"Sam… you see him anywhere?" Aaron asked. They stood outside of Robotropolis at the edge of the forest just south of the command center. Aaron was scanning the city with his camera and taking the occasional picture. Off to one side, Aaron swore he saw someone moving amongst the shadows.  
"Aaron… isn't that the fat man… what's his name?" Sam asked. She was looking through a pair of binoculars at the city.  
"Where you lookin'?" Aaron asked. Sam pointed to where she was looking. Aaron focused the camera as well as he could and adjusted several different dials to try to see where she was looking clearly. After deciding that the lens he had on the camera was not powerful enough, he dug out the long-range zoom lens and focused it on the same spot. This time he was able to see clearly.  
Standing just outside of what appeared to be the main gate was a man who looked to be about seven feet tall and possibly weighed about four or five hundred pounds. He had some kind of weapon in his right hand, though Aaron could not tell for sure what it was. About fifty yards away from where the fat man was standing, Neile was hiding in the shadows under a lamppost. Sam was tempted to run out and drag Neile back, but Aaron held her back.

"Snively, where is he? What was the last known location of the human?" The fat man asked.  
"From what this says, the human was last seen about ninety feet from where you are. Would you like me to activate the tracking radar, Doctor Robotnik?" The nasal-voiced person on the other end of the radio asked.  
"Never mind… I think I see the human now." The fat man, who had been referred to as Doctor Robotnik, said. Through his long-range lens, Aaron saw Robotnik spot Neile hiding in the shadows. Robotnik started towards where Neile was hiding. Thinking fast, Aaron put the camera down and picked up the nearest rock and threw it as hard as he could towards the fat man. The rock landed a good few feet away from Robotnik, but it had the desired effect.  
Robotnik spun around to see where the rock had come from. That was all the time Neile needed; he ran as fast as he could around the corner away from Robotnik. After deciding that the human hiding outside his beloved city was more worth his time than something throwing a rock at him, he turned back around to continue pursuing the human and found that the human had vanished. Swearing under his breath, the fat man radioed back to Snively.  
"Snively… where'd he go?"  
"I'm not sure, sir."  
"Hmmm… okay, I'll let it go for now... one human can't do much to my city. Double the SWATbot patrols around the compound." Robotnik said before turning and walking back to his command center. Inside the forest, Aaron and Samantha took off running through the forest to go find where Neile had run. They eventually ran into Neile hiding outside of a factory.  
"Dude! What was all that about? Why'd you just take off without telling us where you were going?" Aaron asked. They had started walking back to the campsite.  
"I went walking and got lost. I found myself in front of that city surrounded by big ASIMOs… I didn't know what to do so I hid in the shadows hoping that they'd go away after a little bit. I musta fell asleep, 'cause next thing I know, that fat guy was standing there with some kind of gun in his hand. I saw you guys hiding in the trees and ran when you threw that rock." Neile explained as they walked back to the campsite. It was nearing night, and when they made it back to the campsite, they had something to eat and went to bed for the night.

(End of Chapter 14)


	17. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 First Honor

"Good night, girls."  
"'Night, Mizz Julayla."  
"Good night, Julayla."  
It was bedtime in Knothole. Julayla was going from hut to hut doing a final bed check. She had found Sonic and Tails high-spirited and reluctant to settle down. Rotor wanted to stay up and work on yet another gadget, and it was to Antoine's considerable relief that Julayla had insisted he go to bed. Now she closed the door of the hut where Sally and Bunnie lived. She knew from personal experience and from the girls' too ready compliance that they were not about to go to sleep just yet, but would resume the whispered conversation they had been engaged in and which had been broken off when Julayla had knocked on their door. No point fighting it, she told herself. She resolved to come by their door in a few minutes to remind them that they were supposed to be asleep.  
Sure enough, a moment after Julayla had closed the door to the hut, Bunnie threw off the covers and sat herself down at the foot of her bed. Sally sat up as well, the better to hear Bunnie's whispering.  
"So what'd y'all find out, Sally-girl?"  
"Just what I was afraid of: Rosie and Julayla are planning to wean Tails in two days."  
"Did they tell you that?"  
"No, but I took a look at Rosie's notes for meal planning for the next few days when she was out of the kitchen."  
"Two days? But ain't that the same day as First Honor?"  
"Exactly. We don't have much time left."  
"Ah still cain't see why we don't just raid the kitchen."  
"Come on, Bunnie. You know it'd be like taking food out of Tails' mouth!"  
"Ah suppose. But Ah don't like your idea any better, if y'all want to know."  
"Bunnie, where else can we get the milk we need?"  
"This'll be the first time we've had First Honor since we came here, won't it?"  
"Right, and I want this to be special."  
"Me too, but…" There was a rap at the door.  
"Are you two girls in bed?" Julayla asked.  
"Yes, ma'am!" they answered truthfully in unison.  
"All the way?" They both swung their legs up onto their beds before replying  
"Yes, ma'am."  
"And under the covers?" It took them a little longer to answer, with less enthusiasm,  
"Yes, ma'am."  
"Good night, then."  
"Good night." The two girls waited a few seconds until Julayla's footsteps had faded completely.  
"Think the coast is clear, Sally-girl?"  
"Uh-huh." The two girls sat up in bed, their legs under the blankets.  
"So now what?" Bunnie whispered.  
"What about Rotor?"  
"He's been sneakin' our stuff into the kiln whenever he's had a chance."  
"So we've got six bowls ready?"  
"Five." Bunnie heard Sally slap her mattress in frustration.  
"Don't tell me Sonic's still holding out?"  
"Yeah. He says he don't want no part of no First Honor ritual no how."  
"What is his problem?"  
"Ah wish Ah knew. What're we gonna do?"  
"I'm going to try talking some sense into him one more time," Sally said as Bunnie heard Sally snuggling into her bed and wrapping herself in her blanket. "And if he's still going to be stubborn about it, we'll just have to go ahead without him. Good night, Bunnie."  
"G'night."  
Milk was not a staple food on Mobius. In fact, many Mobians through their whole lives never knew the taste of milk once they had been weaned from their mother's breast. In addition, that event in itself was considered a special occasion.  
In addition to the public holidays of Mobius, the beings of the world had also developed a host of smaller, more intimate celebrations, known collectively as 'The Times', to mark significant moments in a Mobian's life. These celebrations were always family matters, private rather than public. They were a chance for a Mobian family to gather and to strengthen their bond with one another.  
The act of weaning was the first such occasion in a child's life after it had been born. It marked the formal transition from infancy to childhood. It was always a joyous time for the child, who was the guest of honor at a party thrown by the family. It was also a bittersweet occasion for the child's mother, for it marked the beginning of the process of letting go.  
Rosie and Julayla were planning this celebration for Tails. He was considerably older than the usual weanling; for most Mobians were weaned by the time they were three years old. Nevertheless, since Sonic had brought Tails to Knothole as a foundling it was impossible to pinpoint his age exactly. Still, the women decided that the time had come for at least a ceremonial weaning. In practical terms, it meant the exclusion of milk from his diet from that day on. The other children, of course, had their own priorities; they were looking forward to the party.  
There was one other Mobian holiday, however, that was uppermost in the minds of Sally and all of the other children except Sonic, and it was the only other Mobian ceremony where milk played a key role. Once a year, in the spring, Mobians would observe "First Honor." The name originated with an ancient proverb: "Of all the debts of honor you will incur, the first is to the one who gave you the life you have."  
So the practice gradually developed that once a year on Mobius milk appeared in the markets in good supply, and it did not require one's life savings to buy it as at other times of the year. For on the morning of First Honor, mothers all over Mobius would awake to find their children each offering her a small bowl of milk to drink. It was a way of thanking their mothers for giving them life and for nurturing them, a kind of symbolic repayment. It was a simple but touching gesture, and many a mother would season the milk she drank with tears of gratitude.  
Despite the fact that milk had always been a scarce commodity on Mobius, even before Mobius found itself under Ivo Robotnik's thumb, Rosie somehow had always made sure that there was milk available for Tails' meals. Nobody knew where she was obtaining it, but there it was just the same. Every time any one of the other children asked her about it, she would dismiss them with the same response: "Ask me no questions, dears." It became a matter of speculation amongst them.  
That is what was happening the next morning as the children of Knothole, with the exception of Tails and Sonic, gathered on the bridge spanning the river. They had finished breakfast and while helping Rosie with the dishes had tried to ask her where she got some of their provisions, items they knew they had not grown themselves.  
"Ask me no questions, dears."  
"But Rosie," Sally asked as she hung her dish towel up to dry, "it has to come from somewhere."  
"Now, M'lady, do I asks you about where you go some nights?"  
"No," Sally admitted. Rosie had a good point. For the last six months, the lives of the children had altered dramatically. Tails had turned up missing one evening and the other children had gone looking for him, finding him inside the abandoned home of Sonic's Uncle Chuck near the very edge of Robotropolis. It was there that Sonic discovered his Uncle's legacy to him: the power rings and the means to generate them. Using the rings, Sonic could now travel faster than he or any of the others could even imagine, and he was using that speed to lead the other children in scouting parties to learn what changes had taken place in Robotropolis and what Dr. Robotnik was doing to their world. Rosie insisted that she not be told of these raids, "in case something happens." She never said what she thought might happen, but the words were sobering enough to make the children obey. Now she was using that ignorance to forestall any further questioning from the children, and they knew it. They silently finished helping with the washing up and retired to the bridge.  
"I am becoming too much tired of that answer," Antoine said at last.  
"Me too, Ant," Bunnie replied.  
"And I must repetition you not to be calling me that!"  
"What's the matter? You gettin' bugged?" she asked with a grin for his squeamishness about insects had become something of a teasing point.  
"That is something about which you are not to be joking! Besides, that kind of fuelishness I was to be expecting from Sonique."  
"Yeah, where the hoo-ha is Sonic, anyway?"  
"He was with us in the kitchen," Rotor added. Then they heard Tails' high-pitched laughter. Turning, they saw Sonic chasing after the young fox, who was using his two tails to fly from one spot to the next. It was a game the two of them played frequently, and it served the purpose of sharpening Tails' flying skills.  
"Forget about him," Sally said gruffly.  
"You mean that?"  
"Just about, Rotor," she sighed. "First Honor is tomorrow. If he doesn't want any part of this, why bother trying to drag him into it?"  
"Are you being sure, my Princess? What if we are having… how does he say… the need for speeding?"  
"We don't need to be fast if we're smart. Now what about the bowls?"  
"They're all fired and ready, Sally," Rotor replied. "I can bring them to the big hut after dinner. Antoine will have the paints and brushes ready."  
"Great! Rosie'll be gathering provisions and won't know what we're doing."  
"What about Julayla?"  
"If she catches us, I'm sure she can keep a secret if we ask her."  
"But even if we are having the bowls, what about the something to be putting inside of them?"  
"I've got that all figured out," Sally said as she lowered her voice, looking around her. "We know that Robotnik's turned my father's castle into his headquarters. He's changed a lot of things about it but it should still have the same rough layout."  
"Sally-girl, don't even think about it!" Bunnie pleaded.  
"I'm sorry, Bunnie, but there's no other way. Now if you want out too…"  
"No, Ah'm in. Ah just wish Ah wasn't."  
"Good. Now I'll try talking to Sonic one more time." But Sonic spent the remainder of the day eluding Sally and the others, spending his time with Tails playing games and regaling him with talk about what he had to look forward to as a "big guy." Tails didn't understand much of what was said; he only knew that there was going to be a big party the next day, but he still hung on Sonic's every word simply because he was Sonic.  
Sally knew that the situation called for subtlety and tactics. She waited until the evening meal when Sonic was seated at the table eating. In a neatly executed move, she sat down to Sonic's left with Rotor sitting on his right. Sonic was boxed in.  
"What's the deal, Sal?"  
"You know what the deal is, Sonic."  
"Then you know the answer, so leave me alone."  
"I'll make this easy for you." With that, Sally placed an unpainted clay bowl in front of Sonic. All of the bowls that the children had planned to use for First Honor had been hand-made and showed the distinct characteristics of their makers.  
Sally's bowl was clearly the product of a lot of thought and consideration; Bunnie's was designed with a stylish flair, practical but more ornamental; Antoine's was functional but needlessly ornate; Rotor's had a machine-like precision of execution; Tails' was crudely executed but it looked as if a lot of love had gone into it anyway.  
The bowl in front of Sonic was typically Sonic: hastily executed and discarded once he'd lost interest which, in this case, had been about two months ago.  
"Hey! Where did that come from?" Sonic was clearly annoyed.  
"I saved it from being turned back into clay, and had Rotor fire it. If you want to paint it, fine; if you don't, that's fine, too."  
"And if I want to forget about it?"  
"Sonic," Sally said with patience more appropriate to a grown-up, "I'm going to explain this one more time."  
"Well, make it fast 'cause you're starting to sound like that old slave driver, Julayla."  
"She is not a…Sonic, you know what First Honor would mean to Rosie. She's been like a mother to us… to all of us! So all of us have to be in on this together."  
"Forget it Sal. No way."  
"Sonic…"  
"I said no!" With that, Sonic picked up the bowl in front of him and hurled it at the nearest wall. It instantly shattered, the gray shards raining down on the floor.  
"Sonic!" Everybody turned toward the doorway. Julayla was standing there, silhouetted by the early evening light. Her arms hung at her side, and Sally gasped when she noticed that both her hands were clenched into tight fists. It was something she had never seen Julayla do before.  
"Everybody but Sonic, leave." Her voice was low and measured, but everyone could feel the rage just below the surface.  
"But…" Sally began.  
"Now!"  
The children rose silently and walked out of the hut as Julayla stepped aside, her facial expression never changing. No sooner was the last of them outside than Julayla closed the door with a bang. Then they heard something they had never heard before: Julayla sliding the bolt on the door, locking them both inside. Tails started whimpering and Bunnie held him close.  
"Now what are we to be doing?" Antoine asked.  
"There's only one thing we can do," Sally replied.  
"Pause for a moment of silence?" Rotor asked as he removed his cap from his head.  
"No. We leave for Robotropolis."  
"Say what?"  
"I saw Rosie leaving Knothole to get provisions on our way in here, and Julayla's going to be in there with Sonic for… well, for a while, anyway. It's now or never!"

(End of Chapter 15)


	18. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Second Journey

"Sonic Hedgehog," Julayla began saying in even tones as she walked toward the table where Sonic sat, "it's not my place to tell you what you can or can't feel. But, you know that I will not allow that kind of behavior in this hut or anywhere else in Knothole! Is that clear?"  
"Yeah," Sonic grumbled, his arms folded in front of him, refusing to even look at Julayla. "So can I get out of here now?"  
"You're not getting off that easy, young man." She took a piece of paper and a pencil from an adjoining table and placed them in front of Sonic. "You're going to do some writing."  
"What do you want me to write, 'I will not break stupid bowls' one hundred times?" Whatever it was going to be, he knew it would be a stupid waste of time.  
"No," she said calmly. "I want you to write down everything that you can remember about your mother." Sonic had been ready for everything but that.  
"Say what?"  
"You heard me, young man. Start writing."  
"Here," he said as he handed her the blank piece of paper with a disingenuous grin, "I'm done, 'cause I can't remember nothing."  
"I don't think so," Julayla said as she placed the piece of paper back in front of Sonic. "Start writing."  
"But…"  
"No buts." She sat down on the bench next to Sonic. "We're both going to stay here until you finish, and I don't care if it takes you all night or a week or the rest of your life. Now start writing."  
"But…but I can't!"  
"Yes, you can. Now write!"  
"No!" Sonic slammed his pencil down on the table.  
"I said write!"  
"But I…"  
"Start writing, Sonic!"  
"I… I can't!"  
"And why not?"  
"Because I…"  
"What?" Julayla demanded.  
"Because…" Sonic's lip began to quiver and his eyes widened. His voice sounded as if someone had him by the throat."I didn't have…I mean, I never knew… my… she…" Sonic suddenly let out a howl of pain. His well-cultivated cool was gone. He threw his head upon his folded arms and cried. He did not know how long he spent crying out the anger and grief he had carried inside for so long. He only knew that it had gotten darker inside the hut when he opened his eyes. He also realized that his head and arms were in Julayla's lap, and that she was gently stroking his head.  
Sonic looked up into her face. It was no longer stern and angry. It was softer now, and tears stood in her eyes as well.  
"Sonic?" she asked kindly. The boy was still unable to talk; his chest heaved as he breathed in an erratic rhythm and tears continued to stream down his face. Julayla put her arms around him and held him to her as she slowly rocked her body back and forth. Her embrace was so comforting to Sonic that he started crying all over again.  
Eventually Sonic stopped weeping. His breathing steadied. He felt as if someone had reached into his chest and scooped out whatever was inside.  
"Sonic?" He again looked up into Julayla's face. "Sonic, I'm sorry for what I did to you, for forcing you to face the pain behind your anger. But everyone here has felt that pain. All of your friends have lost their parents; you lost your parents first, but we all have lost them."  
"We?"  
"My own mother died in childbirth. Every year, at First Honor, I'd take a bowl of milk and pour it out upon her grave." Sonic sniffed loudly and ran his upper arm across his lip. Julayla did not correct his manners. "It was a long time before I realized that mothers do not give their milk to the dead, but to the living. I then began to show honor to my father, who had been both mother and father to me when I was young."  
"Like…like my Uncle Chuck," Sonic sniffled.  
"Yes. First Honor isn't just about our mothers; it's about all those in our lives who have cared for us and helped us along the life path thus far. It would be no dishonor to your true mother or to your uncle to show First Honor to Rosie."  
"You know?" Julayla smiled.  
"I'm afraid I've lived long enough to be able to find out many of the secrets you children think you can keep to yourselves. That's why you must tell Sally when you see her that whatever she's planning, she doesn't have to go through with it. The milk you'll need for First Honor has been set aside in the kitchen."  
"But that's for Tails, isn't it?"  
"Rosie knew that First Honor was coming, so she made provision to have extra milk on hand. You children won't have to put yourselves in danger. Tell her that."  
"Okay." Julayla stroked Sonic's head one more time.  
"Go, now. I'll clean up in here."  
"But the paper…"  
"I think you've learned enough for now." Sonic stood up and began walking toward the door. He stopped and turned.  
"How did you know what was ticking me off?"  
"Sonic," Julayla said as she shook her head, "it's easier for a red bird to hide in a green tree than it is for you to hide your feelings. I've watched you struggle with the loneliness and anger you've felt every year when First Honor rolls around. And Sonic?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Whatever was said here, don't repeat it to the others. Let's keep this between you and the 'slave driver'." Sonic smiled.  
"That's cool," he said in almost a whisper. He stepped outside and closed the door.  
It was now early evening, and a couple stars were visible in the sky. Sonic was more than relieved because of his session with Julayla; he was elated. She had not punished him and they did not have to go through with Sally's plan. What is more, he had not felt this unburdened in a long time, at least not since he first held a power ring in his hands. He ran to the girls' hut and knocked on the door.  
"Yo! Sal!" No answer.  
"Sally?" He tried the door, and it opened easily. The hut was empty. Next, he ran to Antoine and Rotor's hut. "Hey, Rote!" he called out as he opened the door. Empty.  
With a start, Sonic realized that the rest of the kids were gone. They could only be one place: on their way to Robotropolis. He ran back to his hut and began fishing under his bed. He had stashed that day's power ring in his backpack. He needed to catch up with the others, and fast.  
Five small figures moved in and out of the shadows at the base of Robotnik's headquarters. They huddled behind the hulk of a wrecked hovercraft.  
"Can we go home now?" Tails asked for the tenth time.  
"Not yet. We're almost there," Sally answered.  
"But my princess, how are you to be knowing where we are?"  
"It stands to reason that no matter what he's done to the palace, there still has to be a door leading to the kitchen from the outside. We just have to find it."  
"Yeah, before Robotnik finds us!"  
"Bunnie, quit worrying. Let's move."  
They slipped out of hiding and walked several hundred yards around the base of the giant egg-shaped structure. Sally paused.  
"Okay, I think we're almost there."  
"I hope so, Sal," Rotor whispered. "I've got a feeling that there'll be a SWATbot patrol coming after us any second now."  
"Let's just keep moving." They rounded the building and paused several yards ahead. There was an access door and some kind of loading dock clearly visible.  
"That's it!" Sally whispered. "Come on." The children paused in front of the door, studying it closely. Rotor was so intent on examining the electronic locking mechanism, and the others were so intent on watching Rotor, that they failed to notice the figure moving toward them out of the shadows of the loading dock.  
"About time you slow-mos got here!" The children just about jumped out of their skin, then turned. There was Sonic, smirking and leaning against the wall.  
"Sonic!" Tails started to call out. But he only got past the first syllable before Sally covered his mouth with her hand.  
"What're you doing here?" she hissed. "I thought you didn't want any part of this!"  
"Sal, we don't have to do this! Julayla said…" But before Sonic could finish speaking, there was the wail of a SWATbot siren. They could not see any units but they sounded close.  
"We've got to get out of here!" Sally said.  
"Where are we all gonna go?"  
"Inside!" Rotor said in a husky whisper. "I've almost cracked the locking mechanism."  
"But Rote…"  
"Got it!" The door began to slide open and the children dashed inside. It took a few seconds before their eyes adjusted to the dim light but they knew that they were in a kitchen. It was not however, the kitchen that Sally remembered. That room had been one of her favorite rooms in the palace, with its worn flagstone floors and its wooden shelves piled with food and the giant centuries-old stone hearth. It was a room with a personality; an open, friendly personality.  
The room they were in now had no personality, or if it did it was a formal, cold personality. Everything in it was metal: the floors, the walls, the ceiling, the tables, the shelves, the oven, the doors, and the sinks. This was indeed a kitchen made in the image of Robotnik.  
"I don't like this place," Tails said.  
"Me neither, little bro."  
"Such a pity that this could not being used for good instead of the evil," Antoine lamented.  
"What the hoo-ha do you know about kitchens, Ant?"  
"My oncle, he was a great chef. He let me watch once while he made for us the soufflé that was the master's piece!"  
"Save it, Ant!" Sonic said testily. "We gotta juice outta here!"  
"Not until we get what we came here for," Sally insisted.  
"But Sal…"  
"SWATbots!" Rotor whispered, his ear up against a door.  
"Where?" Sally asked.  
"In the hall. I heard them!"  
"Everybody scatter! Maybe they'll go away!" With that, the children dove for cover. Sonic grabbed Tails and slid under a table, Rotor squeezed into a pantry alcove, Antoine slipped into a spacious oven and eased the door shut, and Bunnie hid behind a nearby janitor's sink.  
As for Sally, she saw that she was standing next to a massive door with a large latch. She opened the latch, stepped inside, and closed the door behind her.  
The first thing she noticed was the dull, red light that bathed everything in the room, a room that seemed to stretch on forever. Then she noticed the cold, a bitter cold. There had never been a room like this in the palace. It was dark and freezing cold and, Sally had a feeling, evil. In the light, she saw numberless forms that appeared to be suspended from the ceiling all around the room. They appeared to be hanging down from hooks that ran in grooves that laced the ceiling like the strands of a spider's web.  
Sally blew on her hands, trying to keep them warm, and saw her breath come out in clouds as if it were winter in the room. She looked intently at the form hanging in front of her. She had never seen anything like it before.  
Then she remembered one of Julayla's lessons: when confronted by something unknown, see if it resembles anything known. Looking again at the form, she studied it for a few seconds. She then tried turning the image over in her mind, as if looking at it from a different angle might be the solution. She felt no urge to reach out and touch the object.  
It was only by the most vague of associations that she realized that there was something familiar about the skinny part of the object, the part impaled on the hook. She never formed it as a conscious thought but suddenly she saw it with ghastly clarity.  
She saw the part as it might have been at one time; covered with fur and ending in a foot, a foot which had been severed at the ankle. With that, the truth fell into place and the full weight of horror closed in on Sally. The object before her was no longer some mysterious abstract. It was, it had once been, a Mobian. Its skin had been stripped from its body, its feet, arms, head were gone, and it had been gutted.  
She had solved the mystery of the room and now knew it for what it was. This was a place where dead Mobians were stored, but this was no tomb like the burial vaults of the long-dead kings and queens of Mobius, which lay beneath the lower floors of the palace. This room was too close to the kitchen to be anything but a place to store food.  
In her mind she suddenly saw the room teeming with Mobians of all ages, males and females and children strung up with hooks through their ankles, split from chest to groin and their vital organs gone, their throats slit, their life's blood poured out onto the grated gleaming metal floor below as they looked at Sally with open mouths and with dull, pleading eyes.  
Speechless with panic, Sally started to back away. Her back met the cold metal wall and she gasped. She was so gripped with fear that she was only dimly aware that she had emptied her bladder onto the floor. Unable to take her eyes off the forms she saw in her mind she groped for the door latch. She found it, opened the door, and stepped outside. She closed it behind her.  
"There you are!" Sonic said. "Coast is clear, Sal. Those SWATbots never even came in… You okay?" Sally only nodded.  
"What's in there?" Tails asked.  
"Nothing!" Sally's eyes were wide and her hands trembled slightly, and it was not from the cold. "Nothing at all."  
"Okay, Sal, okay."  
"Where's the sink? I've got to… to splash some water on my face."  
"Over yonder, Sally-girl."  
"Yeah, then we gotta get gone!"  
"What's that smell?" Tails asked.  
"Guys! Look!"  
"What's up, Rote?" The children gathered around Rotor, looking at a screen mounted on a wall. Sally joined them after drying her face on a nearby towel, which she then used to dab the inside of her legs before tossing it into a nearby garbage can.  
"It looks like one of Robotnik's security monitors. I was doing some channel surfing when I saw that!" On the screen, they saw Robotnik's malevolent image, seated in what appeared to be some kind of control room. They also heard his voice coming from a nearby speaker saying: "Bring in the prisoner."  
"Prisoner?" The children looked at each other as if to make sure they were all here. Then they looked back at the screen.  
"Sir," Snively began, "a SWATbot patrol apprehended this… this creature outside your headquarters. I believe she was trying to break into the kitchen."  
"How bold," Robotnik said sarcastically. "Bring her to me." Two SWATbots moved into the camera's view, a small figure hunched down between them. Yet, the children all gasped when they saw the figure, for they recognized her in an instant.

(End of Chapter 16)


	19. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Mother Rosie

It was Rosie.  
"Turn it up!" Sally urged.  
"Yeah, right, and let the SWATbots know we're here."  
"Sonic, be quiet!" They gathered closer to listen as best they could.  
"Well, well, what kind of thief is this?" Rosie just stood there and said nothing.  
"The face is familiar, but I can't quite place it."  
"Sir," Snively piped up, "this is the former nanny to Princess Sally."  
"Ah, yes! Miss Rosie, isn't it? Well, this is an occasion. And how is the Princess these days?" Rosie continued to be silent. Robotnik simply grinned.  
"I thought she might still be alive. And if she is, that puts me in the awkward position of having a competitor. Bring her to me and perhaps I'll spare your life."  
"Not for all of Mobius!" Rosie declared. Sally, who was apparently more worried about her nanny's fate than Rosie was about herself, could not help but smile out of admiration.  
"Your stubbornness will be the death of you. And her!"  
"She's just a child!"  
"Child or not, she's also a symbol of resistance. And that's something I don't need. Snively!"  
"Shall I prepare the roboticizer, sir?" The children held their breath.  
"No, Snively. I'm not going to make this easy for her. She will tell me what I want to know, even if it's with her last breath. This will require some thought. Have the SWATbots take her away until I can decide just how I want to…"motivate" her." Rosie was led away and the children looked to each other.  
"What's gonna happen to Rosie?" Tails asked, his voice wavering.  
"We get her outta here, that's what."  
"Sonic!"  
"Sal, this ain't a milk run no more! It's now a search-and-rescue operation."  
"Hope y'all got a plan, Sugar-hog."  
"Okay, so we'll have to make it up as we go. We can't go back to Knothole and wait for Buttnik to come up with something first."  
"I guess you're right," she sighed. "But how will we know where Rosie's being taken?"  
"No problem, Sally," Rotor replied. "I figured out how to use this scanner to track her movements. See those numbers in the lower corner?"  
"What is the good of the numbering when they cannot be telling us her locution?"  
"I got that figured out, too. Keep watching." The children kept their eyes on the screen. As Rosie and the two SWATbots began to disappear out of camera range, Rotor would quickly key in a set of numbers on a nearby keypad. Instantly the image would shift so that once more she was in sight. After several minutes, they saw Rosie being placed in a holding cell with a numerical lock.  
"Okay, now what?" Sonic asked.  
"Now this!" Rotor turned off the image on the screen. It was replaced by a computer-generated schematic of Robotnik's headquarters.  
"Okay, let me enter the coordinates for the last video image we saw with Rosie; that should show up on the diagram there."  
"Well, something's flashing!" Sonic noted.  
"No, I think these are the coordinates to this panel I'm using."  
"So that's where we are, right?"  
"Right, Bunnie. All we got to do now is get from point A to point B."  
"And hope we don't run into any SWATbots on the way there."  
"I hope we do, Sal," Sonic replied as he pulled the power ring from his backpack, "I'm in the mood to kick some serious can!" The path Rotor indicated on the schematic was mercifully short, and she was apparently being held on the same floor as the kitchen. Still, the children had no idea what to expect as they moved out into the hallway.  
For several hundred yards they made their way down stark metal corridors with no doors or windows. Nobody said anything until they came to a large metal door that blocked their path.  
"This could be the entrance to the cell block," Rotor observed. "If I can get this open there's no turning back." The others waited nervously as Rotor experimented with the mechanism. Sonic, however, was not nervous so much as impatient. He almost began tapping his foot on the floor when the door began sliding open. On the other side was a short corridor that turned to the right.  
"Now what?" Bunnie asked in a whisper.  
"Now we need a scout," Sonic replied. "Take the point, big guy." Beaming, Tails revved up and flew as close to the ceiling as possible, then slowly inched along it until he was at the corner. He only poked his nose around the corner for a second before hurrying back to the others and landing.  
"What's the story?"  
"SWATbots! Two of 'em. They're just standing there."  
"Not for long." Gripping the power ring, Sonic dashed to the corner, banked off the wall and sped past the two SWATbots standing guard in front of Rosie's cell. Sonic screeched to a halt at the other end of the corridor.  
"Yo! SWATbutts!" The two SWATbots rotated their heads, their bodies remaining stationary.  
"C'mon! Let's see what you got!" The two raised their arms and sent several rounds of blaster fire down the corridor. Rosie gasped and covered her eyes as the wall at the far end crumbled in spots. Even before the smoke had cleared, Sonic was poking his head around the far corner.  
"Pretty lame, guys!" Now the two SWATbots began giving chase, which was the point of what Sonic did. Sonic took off with the bots in pursuit. Just as they rounded the corner and were lost from sight, Sally and the others emerged from hiding and gathered around the door to Rosie's cell.  
"Children!" Rosie whispered. "What are you doing here?"  
"Getting you out," Sally replied.  
"You children must leave now! You're in danger!"  
"Not without you, Rosie." Sally looked at Rotor who was still studying the lock.  
"Can you figure it out, Rotor?" The sound of a distant metallic crash drifted around the corner. Rosie and the children looked in that direction and heard nothing else.  
"Uh-oh," Tails said.  
"Rotor, what about the lock?"  
"I think I can do it, Sally."  
"You think?"  
"Sally, this is a grown-up lock! I'm gonna need some time."  
"That's something we might not have." Just then they heard another sound from around the corner, this one very familiar. A split-second later, Sonic rounded the corner then screeched to a stop.  
"Sonic! What about the SWATbots?"  
"Don't sweat the bots, Sal. I creamed 'em."  
"Wow!" Tails said.  
"Rotor, keep working on that lock! Sonic, what are you talking about?"  
"They chased me into this blind hallway with no doors or nothing. They musta figured they had me, so I kinda slowed down. Then just before I hit the wall I juiced up it and ran the ceiling. The bots plowed right into the wall. You shoulda seen it."  
"You ran the ceiling? Cool!" Tails gave Sonic a look of total admiration.  
"Yeah," Sonic replied casually as he slipped the power ring back into his backpack, and then took it off. "I gotta get Sal here to help me work on my landings, but…"  
"Sonic!" Sally had cried out because Sonic had absent-mindedly hung his backpack on the cell's locking mechanism, which stuck out from the door. Now the numeric display on the lock was glowing brighter than before. The numbers were sequencing through at an alarming rate.  
"Now look! You just undid all Rotor's work!"  
"Hang on, Sally," Rotor said. "Look!" The displayed numbers continued sequencing faster and faster for another two seconds, then the display went dark. At that moment, everyone heard the locking mechanism reset. Rosie tried the door and it slid open. Rosie stepped outside and several of the children put their arms around her.  
"How'd ya do that, Sonic?" Tails asked, convinced yet again that there was not anything Sonic could not do.  
"I dunno, little bro. All I had in my backpack was that power ring."  
"It must have overloaded the locking mechanism," Rotor guessed. "Wish I could take it back to Knothole and check it out."  
"You'll have to hunt for souvenirs another time," Sally interrupted.  
"The Princess is right," Rosie said. "We've wasted too much time already." She started walking quickly down the hallway, back in the  
irection they had come.  
"Where are we goin', Mizz Rosie?"  
"To the kitchen, Bunnie."  
"We just came from there," Sonic said as Rotor opened the metal door. Just then a deafening warning klaxon sounded in the hallway.  
"No more time for talk, children. Run!" Retracing their steps, the children and Rosie soon found themselves back in front of the kitchen. Rosie waited until all the children were inside. She then closed the kitchen door and began moving several garbage cans in front of it.  
"That ain't gonna stop 'em!" Sonic said.  
"No, but it will slow them down, and right now that's all we need." Rotor, Sonic and Antoine joined in, finding things to heap in front of the door. Rosie then hurried to the door to the freezer.  
"Rosie, no!" Sally cried.  
"It'll be alright, dears. This is our way out."  
"But…" Rosie gave Sally a sharp look, as if to reprimand her. Sally understood, and she saw for a fleeting moment a deep pain behind Rosie's look. She knew that Rosie was equally aware of the weight of horror in that room, but that there was no avoiding it. She opened the door and the children began crowding inside.  
"What kind of place is this?"  
"Never you mind, Sonic. Now follow me." Rosie led them off to the left toward a darkened corner of the room. Sally brought up the rear, her heart beating wildly as she glanced around her. Rosie led them through a door into another room. Though smaller than the other room and not as cold, Sally still felt the same sense of foreboding. Once again, almost everything in the room was metal. In the center of the room was a large metal table with slightly raised edges. It appeared to be tilted at a slight angle, toward a grate set in the floor. There was a large sink in the corner, and hanging from racks on one wall were many cruel-looking knives and saws.  
"Is this some kind of operating room?" Rotor asked.  
"I want you children to forget about this place," Rosie said as matter-of-factly as she could. "Now give me a hand with this." She bent down to lift the grate, and several of the children joined in.  
"Now what?" Bunnie asked.  
"Inside."  
"Down there?"  
"It's only water, dear. Now hurry!" The children dropped down the several feet into the shallow water of the pipe below the floor. Tails was too afraid to even fly down alone unless he was holding Sonic's hand. Rosie was the last down the pipe, pulling the grating back into place. She then began shepherding the children down the pipe toward the place where it emptied out into an open sewer in the shadow of Robotnik's headquarters.  
At that moment, Snively and the SWATbots were in the kitchen. They had broken through the pile of debris in front of the kitchen door and were looking around. Snively stepped over to the communication panel.  
"We've sealed off the exits to the building. They must be around here somewhere. We're searching the kitchen area now."  
"Don't disappoint me, Snively; I want her back and I want her now!" He looked around the room, his eyes resting on the door to the freezer. A small trail of mist was seeping through the bottom of the door; it was not completely closed. He pulled on it and it swung open. Stepping inside, he looked around.  
"SWATbots! I want you to…" Before he could finish giving them orders, Snively stepped on something that wasn't supposed to be there: a small patch of ice near the wall. Apparently, something had been spilled there recently and had frozen solid. Snively lost his footing and fell, his head hitting the metal floor. The SWATbots just stood there, passively awaiting instructions. By the time Snively had picked himself up off the floor and the pain in his head had subsided, Rosie and the children were making their way down the darkened streets of Robotropolis.  
There was less light in the Great Forest than on the streets of Robotropolis. Yet the darkness of the forest held no fear for the children. In fact, they took comfort from it. They had been tense and anxious all the time they were in the city, not knowing whether there were SWATbots in pursuit of them. Bunnie was close to tears by the time they reached the outskirts of Robotropolis, but now that they were back in the forest it was as if she could not remember what had scared her.  
"Children," Rosie asked, "you still haven't told me what you were doing in that place."  
"It was my idea, Rosie," Sally admitted. "First Honor is tomorrow and…"  
"And you thought that Robotnik's kitchen was the only place to find milk. Bless you, dear, I already had plenty put away for First Honor."  
"What?"  
"That's what I was trying to tell you, Sal!" Sonic piped up. "Julayla told me that we didn't have to sneak into Robuttnik's place to get any milk."  
"You are meaning we risk-ed limb and life for nothing?"  
"It weren't for nothin', Ant. We still got Rosie outta there, right?"  
"And I'm grateful to you all, children. But I won't be putting you through that again. That was my last time inside that dreadful place."  
"It was?" Sally asked.  
"It tells me more than ever that we have to rely on what we grow ourselves to provide for all our needs. Miss Julayla and I had been talking about it and it looks like the time is right. Some of our meals may be a little plainer in the future for it, but it's a small enough price to pay."  
"So where the hoo-ha is the milk, anyway?"  
"Left-hand cabinet, second shelf, second-largest canister."  
"That stuff? The kinda crumbly white stuff that looks like big snowflakes?"  
"Yes, Miss Bunny. Its powdered milk. We use so little that it would go bad if we used only fresh milk. Use the measuring cup in the canister with a cup of water. I dare say there's enough in there now to carry you through three First Honors." By this time the group had reached the bridge. They could see Julayla standing in the doorway of her hut, a dark silhouette against the light inside. Apparently satisfied that Rosie and the children had returned safely, she stepped inside and closed the door. A few seconds later the hut was dark.  
"We'd all better turn in, children. It's been a long night, and I don't think Master Tails will want to be falling asleep in the middle of his own party." She cupped the cub's face in one hand; Tails grinned broadly.  
"We're all gonna party hearty, Rosie; don't worry about us."  
"I do worry, Master Sonic. Just my nature, I suppose. Good night." Rosie walked across the bridge and back toward her hut. Sally, who had been looking at the dark waters of the river flowing beneath the bridge, turned to face the others.  
"Bunnie, guys, I'm sorry I put you through all this. If I'd checked in with Julayla instead of worrying about secrecy, I'd have known that Bunnie had the right idea all along. I guess I've still got a lot to learn about being a leader."  
"No harm no foul, Sally," Rotor replied. "Besides, we still got in and out of there in one piece, and helped spring Rosie!"  
"Yeah, and don't that beat all!" Bunnie added.  
"What do you mean?" Sally asked.  
"Ah mean her sneakin' in and out of Robotnik's kitchen all this time!"  
"Yeah," Rotor added. "And doing it to put food on the table."  
"And she goes and says she's worried 'bout us!" There was an awkward silence while the children thought about it. Finally Sonic spoke,  
"That's grown-ups for you!"  
"Come on, guys," Rotor said, "we can still get a few hours sleep before we raid the kitchen and get the milk for Rosie."  
"You're right," Sally admitted. "Let's turn in."  
"No way!" Sonic said forcefully.  
"What?"  
"There's something I gotta say first!"  
Julayla opened her shutters a crack. It was not enough to let much light into her hut, but it was enough to watch the scene unfold. She saw the children, each carrying a bowl, approaching the door to Rosie's hut in a group. Their attempt at stealth by walking on tiptoe was undercut, however, by their whispering and giggling. They were soon there, and she saw Sally knocking on the door.  
Julayla looked hard, trying to count the children. Sometimes she thought she saw Sonic among them, other times he seemed to disappear from view. She rubbed her eyes, wishing she had put on her spectacles first, but she was confident that Sonic was somewhere among them.  
Now she watched as, one by one, the children walked up the steps and handed Rosie their bowls. She could not see Rosie's face clearly, but she knew that Rosie was beaming with an entirely unfeigned happiness.  
Before the last child had presented his bowl to Rosie, Julayla closed the shutters. She would not begrudge Rosie the joy of receiving a mother's due on First Honor. Besides, Julayla told herself, there was too much to do to prepare for Tails' weaning party later in the day. There was no time for her to feel sorry for herself. She took her time getting dressed, then walked toward the door. She opened it, looked outside, and gasped.  
For the old feline, who had never borne children and on whom no one had ever bestowed a single thought on First Honor, looked at the base of the steps leading up to her hut and saw six children standing there. Each one carried a bowl of milk.  
She felt herself sinking to her knees. Sonic, who was the closest to the stairs, walked up and smiled as he held his bowl out toward her. She took it from him, bringing it to her lips. She drank from it, the smoothness, and the sweetness of the milk unleashing a flood of memories. As she set the bowl down beside her, Sonic stepped forward and threw his arms around Julayla's neck. Julayla wrapped her arms around Sonic as well, and he whispered something to her that none of the others could hear. Sonic then walked down the steps and moved to the back of the group where he stood next to Tails.  
"Sonic?" Tails whispered.  
"Yeah?" he whispered back.  
"You said this would make Julayla happy."  
"Yeah, so?"  
"So how come she's crying?"  
"It's a grown-up thing."  
"Oh."

(End of Chapter 17)


	20. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 The Second Day: First Trip

On the second day, the three friends from Earth setup an expedition to investigate the mysterious planet and its strange inhabitants. Their first stop was Knothole again, this time Neile promised he would not wander off on his own.  
"What's going on?" Neile asked. He was looking through the pair of binoculars at one of the huts. They were all standing just within the borders of the forest watching what they could see from their vantage point.  
"I'm not sure… Sonic and Sally and a bunch of others are all gathered outside of someone's hut. They're all holding bowls of something and like offering the bowls to whoever's in the hut." Aaron answered, looking through his high-power camera lens. Sam took the binoculars Neile was looking through.  
"I can't see anything through these… where're you guys looking?" Sam wondered while scanning the village. Aaron reached over and aimed Sam's binoculars to where he was looking. She and Aaron watched the children each walk up to the creature in the hut and hand off the bowl to whoever it was. Once the children had all offered their bowls to the creature in the hut, they all went about their daily games and activities. Out of the corner of his eye, Neile saw something large in the sky coming their way.  
"Hey… check that out! What is it?" Aaron and Sam looked up into the sky at the object. The children saw the shadow approaching the village. The children stopped what they were doing and all stared at the sky and the approaching object. Someone in the village shouted,  
"It's Robotnik! He's got his airship!" Sally and the children watched it fly over.  
"No it's not… it's the Floating Island!" Sally said. She knew the island from her childhood; the King and Queen vacationed there when Sally was young.  
"The Floating Island? How can an island float?" Neile asked. Aaron, Sam, and Neile watched the island float over the village. Aaron managed to get several pictures in the short time that it flew over the village. The villagers stood and watched as it flew over and then went back to what they were doing.  
"They're so much different than us… if we saw something like that on Earth, it'd be like the biggest thing anyone's ever seen!" Sam said. She watched as the island flew away to the north. Once the island was out of view, Aaron and the others continued their trek to Robotropolis.  
Robotropolis was easy to find; from five miles away they were able to clearly see the plumes of smoke from the factories. In the light, the city was much more imposing than it was the previous night. The command center was the most intimidating building of the entire city. Around the whole city was a ten-foot high wall patrolled by robots. Each robot looked the same; about six feet tall, domed head with a red visor. Occasionally, one of them would stop and turn its head in a complete circle scanning for anything in the area. Aside from the robots, there was nothing else monitoring the borders of the city as far as Aaron or Sam or Neile could see.  
"Aaron… how close do you think we can get?" Neile asked. Aaron scanned around the edge of the city through his long-range camera lens.  
"No clue, but I think we should stay just inside the forest… those robots don't look all that friendly." Aaron answered. Sam, Neile, and Aaron watched the robots patrol for a few minutes before they started to get restless. Neile got up from where they had been hiding and walked about a hundred feet to where the edge of the wall was. He motioned for Sam and Aaron to come over to where he was.  
"Aaron… there's none of those robots over here. What'dya say to trying to get inside the city and have a look?" Neile asked, scanning the wall through the binoculars. About fifty yards from the corner of the wall, there was an open gate with no robots near it. Aaron was about to try to talk them out of trying to get into the city when Sam took Aaron's hand and led him through the shadows towards the open gate. The robots made no move to stop them. Once they made it to the gate, they walked through it into the city.  
"Aaron… look at the size of this place! It makes New York look like a tiny model." Sam exclaimed. Aaron grabbed the camera from Neile and started snapping pictures.  
"It's huge! I wonder what the inside looks like?" Aaron asked as he looked at the buildings. Near the bottom of the largest building, Aaron saw what looked like an open door near the back of the building. He pointed it out to Neile, who had taken the binoculars from Sam. They both studied it for a few seconds before nodding to each other and, taking Sam's hand, Aaron led them towards the door. As they dodged from shadow to shadow, Aaron kept watch for any robots in the area. Eventually, they made it to the door and entered it. Aaron made it a point to stop and check every few feet for any kind of traps or sensors, though it proved to be a waste of time, as he found none.  
"Aaron… are you sure it's a good idea for us to be walking around out in the open like this?" Neile asked. They had entered into a larger hallway with a higher ceiling and wider walls with many doors on either side of them. Aaron scanned over the walls looking for anyplace that they could hide. Near the floor, he spotted what looked like a heating duct. Down the hallway, the sound of voices caught everyone's attention and hurried up their decision to hide in the vent. Aaron dug through his pockets and found a makeshift screwdriver to pry the cover off. Once the cover was off, the three humans climbed inside with Aaron sliding in last and pulling the cover back into place.  
From the inside of the vent, Aaron and his two Earthly friends watched as a seriously overweight pair of legs walked by followed by a pair of scrawny-looking legs scurried past.  
"Snively, you're coming with to capture the members of this rag-tag team of rebels. I think that blue hedgehog is one of them." The owner of the overweight legs said.  
"Yes, Doctor Robotnik, but do we know where they could be?" Snively asked. The overweight person answered quickly,  
"Not yet, but we will. I want them captured and roboticized as soon as possible. I can't have any rebels trying to thwart me. This planet will be mine if it takes me a hundred years!" Robotnik cackled as they continued walking past the vent. Aaron and friends listened intently as Robotnik and his assistant walked out the door and closed it behind them. Once he was sure that they were alone again, Aaron turned around so he was facing away from the vent and towards his friends. Samantha had crawled to the far end and was motioning for the two young men to follow her. The three of them continued down the tunnels until they came to a vent opening into a large room with what looked like some kind of operating table in the center of it. Above the table was what looked like a grouping of lights with some very thick wires coming up from the tops of them. All three of them climbed out of the vent and into the room.  
"Aaron… what you 'spose that's for?" Sam asked, pointing to the table. Aaron jumped up on the table and took a closer look at the light fixture.  
"Not sure, but I want you guys to keep an ear open… let me know if anyone starts coming back here. I'll try to figure out what the heck this thing is… it's not a light fixture, I can tell that, but I don't know what it is." Aaron said as he examined the fixture and the table. The table was about as long as Aaron was tall and had restraints where his arms, legs, and head would be. Just out of curiosity, Aaron laid down on the table so his head, legs, and arms were where the restraints were.  
Above and below him, he suddenly felt static begin building all around him. Above him, what he thought was a light fixture opened up like a metallic flower into what resembled some kind of ray gun. Aaron lay there fascinated for a few seconds until he heard it charging up. Neile glanced back to where Aaron was to see how his friend was doing and got the shock of his life; his life-long friend was laying on a table with some sort of ray gun pointed at him. Without hesitating, Neile sprinted over to where Aaron was and pulled his friend off the table. Neile and Aaron both tumbled to the floor. The ray gun automatically reverted to its previous state of looking like a light fixture. Samantha stood by the door, simultaneously listening for any footsteps outside the door and glaring at Aaron and Neile.

Deep inside the Great Forest, Bunnie had taken to going around the forest planting various types of flowers and plants. She had been warned by Sally and the rest of the Freedom Fighters to not wander too close to the edge of the forest and had no intention to. At the edge of the forest, Robotropolis was clearly visible, even through the haze that constantly covered the city.  
"Ah do declah, this ol' forest does look a lot bettah with all mah flowers planted!" Bunnie thought aloud to herself. Sitting down under a shade tree, Bunnie yawned and dozed off.  
"Sir, I detect one lifeform just within the borders of the forest." Snively reported. Robotnik looked over at the display his nephew was reading.  
"Can our hovercar get in there?" Robotnik asked. Snively pulled up the satellite images of the area.  
"Yes, sir. There's an old path on the north side of the forest; we can get through there to the lifeform." Snively reported. Robotnik grinned and accelerated the hovercar. Within twenty minutes, Robotnik and Snively were navigating the large hovering machine through the forest to where the radar scans indicated the lifeform was.  
After a quick nap, Bunnie woke up and started making her way back to the village. As she made her way through the twisting trails of the forest, she realized that she had forgotten her shovel and seed pail. She jogged back to where she had left it and was about to make her way back through the trails to home when she heard a noise behind some trees. Setting her pail and shovel down, she pushed her way through the brush that made up that part of the forest.  
She did not see anything. Figuring it must have been a branch falling or maybe the wind, she turned to leave. As she made her way back through the dense foliage, she felt something tugging at her feet. Before she had a chance to shake it free, a large net closed around her. Out from behind a stand of immense trees, Robotnik and Snively came walking.  
"Ah, young child… you're going to become my first volunteer for my new improved robotization process." Robotnik proclaimed before climbing into the waiting hovercar. Snively followed behind the fat man after tying the net holding Bunnie to the craft. Snively got into the machine and it lifted off the ground and carried its cargo back to the city. All the way back to Robotropolis, Bunnie screamed and cried as loud as possible.

"Sonic, could you go out and see what's taking Bunnie so long? She's long overdue." Julayla asked while serving dinner for everyone who was there. Sonic just nodded and ran as fast as he could out the door and into the forest. After running through the forest from edge to edge, Sonic had not seen any trace of Bunnie's even being there. Just as he was about to give up, his eyes happened upon her pail and shovel. Just beyond the pail and shovel, there was a flattened area of ground and a recently used trail. The trail led in the direction of the city.  
"Ahh, man… it's Robotnik!" Sonic spat under his breath before racing back to Knothole. "Sal! Where are ya?" Sally came running from the mess hall where dinner was being eaten.  
"Good… you're back! Did you find Bunnie?" Sally asked. Sonic explained what he had found as quickly as he could. "Are you sure? How do you know Robotnik did it?" She asked.  
"Sal… there's no time to debate it! She's in serious trouble! We've gotta juice, like now! You coming or do I gotta do this solo?" Sonic asked. Sally rolled her eyes, wrapped her arms around Sonic's shoulders and they were gone. Within a minute, they were in Robotropolis; looking at the same building they rescued Rosie from.  
"Sonic, I don't like being here." Sally whispered as they approached the command center. At the side of the building was an aircar that had been flown recently and had a net attached to the back of it. Sonic and Sally made their way to the only door near the craft and carefully pushed it open. Inside was a corridor that branched off in several directions, only one of which had any light shining down it. Sonic and Sally made their way down the corridor towards the light.

Aaron, Sam, and Neile had climbed back into the vent moments before the fat man and his slim assistant came back into the room. Once in the vent, Aaron took a chance and dug out his camera. Looking through it, he could clearly see the creature that Robotnik had brought into the room.  
"Aaron… what's he gonna do to that poor creature?" Sam whispered. Aaron shook his head and handed the camera to Neile. Sam still had the binoculars and was trying to read lips through them, though it was not working.  
"Doctor, shall I warm the machine up?" Snively asked. Robotnik shoved the young rabbit towards the table. Picking the rabbit up by the ears, Robotnik tossed the creature onto the table, which produced hold-down straps. Above the rabbit, the light fixture opened as it had when Aaron had lain on the table.  
"Start the machine." Robotnik ordered. Snively ran back and forth between the various control panels pushing buttons and turning dials. On the central monitor, it displayed a clock and began to count down as the ray gun discharged. The clock began counting down from three minutes. Before Aaron, Sam, and Neile's eyes, the rabbit's left arm and legs began turning from flesh and fur to cold metal.  
Through the camera, Neile was able to see tiny electrical components materialize out of thin air and embed themselves in the rabbits skin. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sam grab Nicole from her side and open it.  
"Nicole, can you overload the central computer system?" Sam asked as quietly as she could. Nicole's lights blinked and then the computer replied very quietly,  
"Working, Sam." On the computers small screen, it displayed scrolling lines of zeroes and ones as it communicated with the mainframe trying to overload it. As the computer worked to bring down the mainframe and every computer connected to it, Sonic ran into the room with Sally a few seconds behind him. Sonic and Sally glanced at each other before running across the room to the control panel. As quickly as possible, Robotnik and Snively both pulled out some type of gun and aimed at Sonic and Sally. As Robotnik and his assistant got ready to fire, the computers behind them powered down along with the roboticizer.  
"Snively… get those computers back up! Hedgehog… you're too late… your friend is already mine!" Robotnik cackled. Sally ran over to Bunnie and, using all her strength, pried the tie-down straps from Bunnie's ankles and arms. Trying her hardest, she managed to pick up Bunnie in her arms and ran out the door they had come into the lab through before collapsing under Bunnie's weight.  
"I think you should take a seat while I clean this place up a little!" Sonic said before going into what he had termed a 'Sonic Spin' and running into Robotnik. Robotnik stumbled under the hedgehog's impact, but managed to keep his balance by grabbing onto the table that the rabbit had been lying on. Sonic sprinted around the lab trying to cause as much damage as possible. Once he was satisfied he had caused enough damage, Sonic took off out the door he and Sally had run in through.  
In the vent system, Aaron and Sam and Neile watched Sonic and Sally rescue their rabbit friend from the table that Aaron had checked out earlier. As Sonic ran out of the room, Nicole lost contact with the computers and the machine started back up. Before his eyes, the machine changed the fat man's flesh and blood arm into the same mechanical type that the rabbit had. Behind him, Neile tapped Aaron on the shoulder and motioned that they should leave. Aaron and Sam both nodded in reply and began making their way out of the ventilation system.  
Sonic and Sally got their friend, Bunnie, back into the safety of the forest as quickly as possible. Once they made it into the forest, they both stopped to take a break. Bunnie had passed out just outside the city from the pain and shock of being partially roboticized. Without a word between them, they slowly made their way back to the village with their friend in tow. On arriving in the village, Rosie was the first to greet them. She looked mad at first.  
"Children, what took you… oh my gosh!" She gasped as she laid eyes upon Bunnie's changed form. Sonic and Sally looked as if they were about to pass out from exhaustion. "Rotor! Get Rotor immediately!" Rotor came running out of his hut to where Julayla, Sonic, and Sally stood looking at someone's crumpled form on the ground. As he got closer, he could not believe his eyes.  
"Geez… what happened to her?" Rotor asked, digging through his tool belt for his makeshift stethoscope. Once he found it, he checked Bunnie's heartbeat and found it to be normal. Rotor gave Sonic and Tails orders to go find a handful of different herbs and plants and bring them back to Bunnie's hut. While Sonic and Tails went out looking for the herbs, Rotor and Sally managed to carry Bunnie back to her hut. After a few minutes of waiting, Sonic and Tails came back into the hut with the herbs and plants that Rotor had asked for. After carefully mixing the various plants in a beaker and boiling the mixture, he administered one drop of the concoction to Bunnie. Once he was sure that it had taken effect, they all gathered together outside Bunnie and Sally's hut.  
"Okay… she's fine, just a little shaken. And understandably so… she's partially roboticized. I have no clue how that's possible at all, but she is. I gave her an herbal sedative, so she should be out cold for at least a full day… that should give me enough time to run a few tests and see if it can be reversed." Rotor explained to the village.  
"Is she going to be okay?" Julayla asked. Rotor shook his head.  
"Not sure… I've only briefly seen robots that were fully roboticized and haven't had time to check them out really. It really depends on her body being able to use the robotic limbs or rejecting them. We'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, I suggest you guys let her rest." Rotor answered. Once everyone was sure there were no more questions, Rosie and Julayla took the children back to the mess hall for a midnight snack before sending them back to bed. All that night, none of the children slept soundly. Their thoughts kept going back to Bunnie and whether she would be all right.  
At their campsite, Aaron and his two friends sat around the campfire wondering what had happened to the rabbit that had been partially roboticized. The following day, they decided they would sneak close to Knothole and see if they could see or hear anything about the rabbit's condition. Once they were tired enough, the three friends climbed into their sleeping bags and fell asleep. Their dreams were troubled by visions of the city. In their dreams, it was one of them on the table being roboticized and then sent out to capture the others. During the night, Aaron awoke to the sound of rocks being kicked around somewhere outside of the forest. Aaron got up and went to investigate.  
Pacing in the clearing near where the car was parked, Sonic wandered back and forth kicking pebbles with his foot and quietly talking to himself.  
"Why? If I'd left the village only a few seconds sooner, I would've saved her." Sonic kept repeating to himself. Finally, he threw a rock in the direction of Robotropolis and sprinted back towards Knothole. Aaron watched the blue hedgehog run back to his hut after blowing off some steam and crawled back into the tent and dozed off.

(End of Chapter 18)


	21. Chapter 19

Chapter 19 Bunnie Rabbot

That morning, the children got up as usual and gathered in the main hut for breakfast and then class. Once all the children arrived, Rosie went about her daily routine of passing around breakfast to all the children. When she had finished, Julayla stood up and spoke.  
"Children, I know that what happened to Bunnie is on all your minds right now and I understand that you're all concerned with what happened to her last night. Her recovery is going to take all our help, so until she gets better or gets adjusted, I am postponing classes. But… this isn't going to be all play time… I want to see you children helping her with this, not just goofing around." Julayla finished. As the children finished eating breakfast and doing their chores, Sally's mentor motioned for the young princess to follow her. Sally put down the dishes she was drying and followed the aging feline to her hut.  
"Sally, you are Bunnie's closest friend, so it may end up on your shoulders to help her the most. Rotor said she should be awake any time now, so please be by her side." Julayla told Sally. Sally nodded, still trying to accept the fact that her friend was now partially a robot, probably for the rest of her life.  
"I'll do what I can. It's so horrible what happened to her… it kept me up all night, wondering…" Sally trailed off. Julayla hugged Sally and wiped away the young girl's tears. Julayla felt like crying also, but held it in. She knew that Bunnie would never be the same carefree child she had been before she was partially roboticized and even if she could be deroboticized as Rotor had called it, she would still carry scars both internal and external. From what Rotor's tests showed, the robotic parts of her were built around her skeletal structure and somehow wired into her nervous system. Once Sally finished crying, she went back to her hut to wait for Bunnie to wake up.  
While waiting, Sally sat down at her desk to work on her diary a little. Once she was done with her daily writing, she put her head down on her arms and dozed off a little. About half and hour later, the entire village heard the scream and knew Bunnie had woken up.

Aaron, Sam, and Neile started awake when they heard the scream. Each teenager's blood went cold with the sound of it. They each jumped up out of their sleeping bags and hurriedly threw their shoes on and ran helter-skelter through the forest to the edge of it facing the village. From where they were, all they could see was that the entire village was gathered together around one of the huts. Even through the binoculars and long-range camera lens, Aaron and Neile could not see anything or hear anything from where they were.

"Bunnie… calm down, you're alright, we're back at the hut, and you're safe and sound. Something horrible happened, but you're going to be fine." Sally tried to calm Bunnie, who was alternately crying and screaming hysterically, down. Bunnie kept looking down at her arm and legs and went back to screaming and crying. Sally did all she could to try to comfort the young rabbit, who now lay covered by a thin sheet on her bed trying to come to terms with what had happened. In the back of her mind, she kept thinking of how she would comfort Bunnie knowing that it could probably never be reversed. Bunnie looked down at her body and burst into tears again. Sally held Bunnie close while her friend cried. As she sat there holding her friend, Sally's mind slipped into the past.  
When Sally was a young child, Queen Alicia Acorn would sing to her daughter when she would wake up during the night after having a nightmare. Remembering most of the words, Sally began singing softly and wiped away Bunnie's tears. After singing to Bunnie for near an hour, she calmed down enough to sleep. Sally laid Bunnie down on her bed and pulled the covers over her friend and tiptoed out of the hut. Once outside the hut, Sally asked around and eventually found Rotor.  
"Rotor… have you found anything yet?" Sally asked, wiping away the tears she had silently cried. Rotor was bent over looking though a microscope at something. He straightened up and looked at Sally.  
"Princess, from what I can see here and from the quick x-ray I took earlier, it looks like it can't be reversed. From what I can tell from the x-ray I made, it looks like the robotic part somehow fused to her skeletal structure. As far as I can tell from the sample I took of the metal, it's some kind of alloy. How's she doing?" Rotor explained.  
"Is she going to be okay?" Sally asked.  
"Well, from what I can tell, she should be fine. It appears that nerves and muscles joined with the metal servos and controls somehow that I don't understand. Physically, she's fine as far as I can tell… it's mentally that I'm concerned about for now."  
"What do you mean, Rotor?" Sally asked.  
"Well, as we've already seen, she's in mental shock from what she went through. The shock could last any number of days. Once that wears off, she'll probably be depressed for a couple months and eventually she'll learn to live with it, hopefully." Sally sadly nodded. "All we can really do until she comes to terms with what happened is be there for her."

At the border of Knothole and the forest, Aaron and his friends watched what they could.  
"Aaron… should we get closer so we can see?" Sam asked. Aaron shook his head.  
"No… any closer and we risk being seen. I think we should get out of here… we can't see anything and we're out of food." Aaron said as he finished taking what was left of pictures on his last roll of film. Once Neile and Sam were done looking and making rough sketches of what they could see, they all three started the trek back to the car and campsite.  
Once at the campsite, Aaron searched the ground a little bit and eventually found a young sapling. Carefully uprooting it, Aaron placed it in a baggie with a wet paper towel. Once Aaron had the sapling for Professor Leif, they hastily packed up the tent and camping gear and packed it back in the car. When that was done, they piled into the car and Aaron started it up for the first time in three days. The car started on the second try again and they left for Earth. Immediately, once Aaron got the car started, he switched it over to the electric drive system and they proceeded to reach speed and open the portal to Earth. After six hours of driving, during which the three of them slept and let the computers drive, they finally came off what Aaron had named the InterDimensional Super-Highway onto the main highway through their hometown.  
It was night and the traffic was light, so once he morphed the car back to normal size Aaron pulled a U-Turn and headed back into town to his house.  
"Neile, if you want to you're welcome to stay at my house. Sam's been staying there with me until her parents come home." Aaron said, resetting the cars computers to local time and Mobius time.  
"Yeah, if you don't mind. My mom's sleeping by now and I don't want to wake her. Thanks for taking me with… that was awesome!" Neile answered.  
"Not a problem, dude! We probably won't go back for a while now, just to be safe. But, yeah… next time we go there, we'll hook up again and take you and Liz with." Aaron said, looking from road to Neile to computer as he tried to calibrate the clocks.  
After a little driving and turning down multiple races, they made it to Aaron's house and quickly unpacked what they had taken with. Once the camping gear and the car was in the garage, Aaron showed Neile to the last empty room and then went back to his room and flopped to his bed and fell asleep almost right away.  
Samantha went up to her room, went through her sketches, and labeled them before writing down in her diary about what happened.  
'Dear diary,  
These past few days, I have seen some things that no one has and almost certainly will never see. I didn't even think to write anything here the first time we went there, but we saw some things this time that are worth noting. We went to a planet Aaron called Mobius and stayed there for two nights and three days. While there, we saw many interesting things; animals that talk, exotic plant life, we even saw one of the talking animals become partially robotic (according to Aaron). That one was a little scary… seeing flesh and blood turn into cold steel and wires was really scary.  
I don't want to go back there for a while and Aaron already knew this without me telling him. He seemed a little worn out and nervous when we got back to his house, almost like there was something we should have or shouldn't have done. I'll ask him about it tomorrow. In the meantime, I want to get those rolls of film developed and see what the pictures turn out as. Next time we go there, I want to take along a video camera if possible and tape some of what we see.  
More tomorrow sometime… it's been a long three days on a far distant planet.  
And… I think I'm falling for Aaron. Though it's too soon to know for sure, but I think I like him… a lot!'  
Samantha tucked her diary under her pillow and then sleepily climbed into bed for the night. In Aaron's room, he was up most of the night browsing through star charts online, trying to get an idea on where Mobius was. The second night of the trip, Aaron had roughly sketched a few of the constellations overhead and was now trying to locate them on a star chart. As the night wore on, Aaron got more and more tired and just as he was about to give up on the whole idea, he found a tiny constellation near Drago.  
Going by the GPS data that Nicole had provided to Aaron, he had some idea of what direction was what on Mobius and therefore what constellations appeared in the north. By that information, Aaron was able to place Mobius in the small constellation near the last star in Drago. Writing a quick note to himself, Aaron climbed into bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Every day for a month, Bunnie woke up in tears. She dreamt repeatedly of those few minutes when her life was dramatically changed; first in her home village seeing her friends and family killed or turned into robots and then in the city when she was partially roboticized. No one seemed to know if she would be able to walk or live a normal life with her robotic arm and legs.  
Slowly, she regained use of her arm and legs. It took all of Knothole to help her gain enough confidence to try walking again, but eventually she was able to get out of bed. Sally was there for Bunnie all through her rehabilitation; first walking, then using her arm, and slowly the emotional healing. The last one proved to be the hardest as the dreams haunted Bunnie night after night. Through it all, Rotor insisted Bunnie deal with it on her own as much as possible; seeing as how he was unable to reverse the process that made her as she was, she would have to remain part robot part rabbit until some way could be found to reverse it.

The following day, Aaron made a dozen calls to various universities and observatories to see if someone could verify Mobius' location. Eventually, Aaron called his old science teacher who had a contact at an observatory who owed Aaron's science teacher a favor. Aaron gave the coordinates of the planet to the teacher and after thanking her, he hung up. Samantha was sitting at the kitchen table with Neile alternately talking and sorting through the rolls of film and hand-drawn sketches, trying to get them in some sort of order. Once Aaron was done placing his calls, they took the sapling that Aaron had brought back with him and the film to Professor Leif.  
"Hey professor! How goes it?" Aaron called out as they walked into the lab.  
"Aaron, great to see you again! What'd ya bring for me this time?" Jacob asked, coming out from behind a stack of journals.  
"Brought a sapling from the same place I got those leaves from. You find out anything more about the leaves?" Aaron asked, handing the professor the baggie containing the sapling. Professor Leif carefully opened the baggie and removed the sapling from it and promptly put the sapling in a small pot of dirt.  
"A little bit. Are you kids going to tell me where you got these from or am I going to have to find out on my own?" Jacob asked while sifting through the stacks of papers on his desk looking for the notes he took about the leaves. Aaron just smiled,  
"We can't tell where we got them from other than it's someplace a ways away from here. Like I said last time, maybe someday we'll take you there. But, what'd you find out about the leaves?" Samantha asked.  
"Well, I didn't find much else out about them other than what I told you the other time. The leaves are cleaner than anything on Earth, the cells somewhat resemble plant and animal combined, and the leaves seem to regenerate a little bit. That sapling is perfect… maybe I'll be able to find out more about this place from the young tree." Jacob explained. Neile was leaning against a table flipping through one of the many journals that lay scattered around the lab.  
"Hey, professor… just out of curiosity, how often does someone in your field see something that doesn't match anything in any books?" Neile asked. Professor Leif shrugged,  
"Not sure, though I'd guess not very often. The only people who ever see anything that's not known is marine biologists, most other fields don't see much new stuff these days." Jacob answered.  
"Well, I think we'll take off and let you get back to your work. We have some things to get done today, but thanks for doing all this for me." Aaron said as he got his car keys out.  
"Not a problem, always glad to see something out of the ordinary. I'll call you if I find out anything about the sapling." Jacob said as Aaron, Sam, and Neile left. Aaron let Samantha drive to the photo store so they could get the film developed. After waiting around for a couple hours, they got the pictures back and went back to Aaron's house to look them over. Most of the pictures that all three of them took turned out; mainly Aaron hoped that the ones from inside the headquarters turned out, which they did. While they had been at the store getting the film developed, Aaron bought a scrapbook for all the pictures and sketches they had made while on Mobius. After putting the pictures in the scrapbook and taking Neile home, it was past eight at night and both Aaron and Sam were tired and hungry. After making something quick to eat, they went to their rooms and settled in for the night.

(End of Chapter 19)


	22. Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Dealing with Life

For almost a month after Bunnie's partial robotization, everyone poured their energy into trying to get Bunnie on her feet and getting her to come to terms with what had happened to her. She had learned how to walk again and control her robotic arm. Once Bunnie was back on her feet, she made it a point to someday exact her revenge on Robotnik. Rotor was still unsure exactly how Bunnie was able to control her robotic limbs, but she seemed to have complete control over them. Within a few days of her being back on her feet, Rotor made a waterproofing compound in his hut and used it to waterproof Bunnie's robotic limbs.  
Robotnik also had some things to deal with. When Sonic had pushed him, he had grabbed hold of the Roboticizer's table to steady himself and then the computers started up again. As soon as the computers came back on, the machine started up again and his left arm was instantly roboticized. He knew from various experiments he had run that the process was irreversible, so he was stuck like this much the same way the rabbit was. At the thought of a rebel creature walking around with much stronger legs and a stronger arm, he slammed his fist onto the main console. The console dented with a shower of sparks and acrid smoke rising from it.  
Sally had also grown to understand that the citizens of Knothole would be living in danger constantly, as Bunnie's kidnapping had shown. She also noticed that the attitudes of everyone changed after she and Sonic had carried Bunnie back to the village and her anguish was known to Knothole. Sonic seemed to be the most worried out of everyone; the hedgehog had the feeling that Robotnik would be able to find out the location of Knothole through Bunnie's robotic limbs, though Rotor repeatedly told Sonic that such a thing was impossible. Eventually, Sally and Rotor were able to convince Sonic. Tails and Antoine did what they could for Bunnie, mainly being there to catch Bunnie if she fell and keeping her active.

Aaron and Sam resolved to not go back to Mobius for at least six months in case their presence there had somehow changed the planet or its inhabitants. They had grown close living together for almost two months while Aaron's parents were away on business. Samantha's parents had come home one evening while Aaron and Sam were at her house taking care of what needed to be done there. They liked Aaron and were glad that Samantha had already made some friends since they had moved to Texarkana. After talking for about an hour at Sam's place, Aaron went back to his house leaving Samantha at her house with her parents.  
Samantha told her parents about the trip to Aaron's parents cabin up north in Minnesota and the street races that Aaron took her with to and Aaron's taking her out to dinner a couple times. Knowing that no one would believe her, she left out the trip to Mobius, which would be very difficult to explain. From meeting Aaron for as short of a time as they did, they liked him and had no problem with their daughter spending time with him.  
When Aaron got back home, he went in, grabbed some of his rap discs, and after loading them in the car's disc changer, went out looking for some street races. All through all the races he was in, Aaron kept thinking of Sam and how he already missed having her with on his races. He was so lost in thought he ended up losing two races; Aaron kept having a feeling like he had forgotten something someplace, but he could not figure out what he could have forgotten. Once he got bored with racing, Aaron went back to his place and climbed into bed.

Sally had been through a lot lately and needed some time alone. Behind the village, the clearing where the children played Capture the Flag still stood. Going out to the clearing, Sally sat down on the log that sat at the edge of the clearing and picked a small flower from under the edge of the log.  
"Hello, little flower! Maybe you can tell me what I need to know!" She proceeded to pluck each of its petals while repeating the phrase that many girls learned as they came of age.  
"He loves me… he loves me not." Sally spoke as she pulled the first two petals from the little flower. Finally, she reached the last of the petals and was more than disappointed when she spoke the words that one never wanted to hear.  
"He loves me not." Sally said as she rested her head in her hands and let out a sigh.  
"Guess I won't find any answers tonight. Things seemed much less complicated when I was young. Back then, my thoughts were on anything but romance… fun was fun, but my duties as Princess always came first…" Sally's thoughts went back to when she was a young girl, before the betrayal and even before she met Sonic. Memories of Sally running and playing with her mother and father, thoughts of life before the third war, thoughts of everything that had happened in the last year.  
She broke down and cried for the first time since Julayla had left her in the meadow where she now sat. The memories had become too much for her to handle and she cried. She was not sure how long she cried, because next time she opened her eyes, the stars were out and clearly visible. One particular star caught her eye, as it seemed to slowly be moving in the sky. Dismissing it as one of Robotnik's recently launched satellites, Sally started back toward the village. Looking back over her shoulder at the sky where the satellite had been, it looked as if it was getting larger in size. Hiding behind a tree thinking that it may be some kind of spy camera, Sally watched as it crashed about halfway between the city and the village. The impact of the object was heard and felt all the way back in the village. Sally jumped from behind the tree and ran to the crash-site.  
Meanwhile, inside of the village, Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters had heard the crash of the object and ran to investigate it. Rotor joined them a few feet behind the rest with his metal detector going. After walking from the village for about fifteen minutes, they caught up with Sally.  
"Sonic! You saw it too?" She asked as they came over the small hill that lay between Robotropolis and Knothole.  
"Saw it? We heard it! That was loud enough to wake the dead!" Sonic replied. Rotor was walking slightly ahead of the group swinging his homemade metal detector in wide arcs, watching the needle for any movement.  
"Rotor… are we headed in the right direction?" Sally asked, watching the needle on his metal detector inch its way up the scale the closer they got to the object.  
"My metal detector thinks so, Princess. In fact…there it is!" Ahead of them, they could clearly see the crater from the impact of the object. Sally started towards it, when Rotor reached out to stop her.  
"Sally, don't go too close to it… we don't know what it is!" Sally ignored Rotor and kept walking to it. From four feet away, Sally could not feel any heat from it. She inched closer to it and touched it. The object was a white ball, no more than a foot in diameter. The ball seemed to glow from within.  
"Way cool!" Sonic said under his breath.  
"You're right, Sonic! Cool to the touch!" Sally spoke, looking at Rotor and then Sonic. Rotor came over to where Sally stood, touching the object. The ball was the same temperature as the air around it.  
"I've never seen anything like it! What do you suppose it could be?" Rotor asked, conceding that he had no idea what it could be. Sally shook her head.  
"No idea either… though it may well be the answer to my wishes." Sally said under her breath. Realizing that they were close to the city, Sally grabbed the glowing ball quickly and they all hurried back to Knothole. Once there, they took the ball to Rotor's lab where Rotor proceeded to perform a battery of tests on it.  
First, he tried cutting it open with a laser he had gotten from a SWATbot Sonic had destroyed. The laser bounced off the orb, as Rotor had come to call it, as if it was a mirror. Next, he tried submerging it in acid, which just boiled and sizzled off the orb almost like the ball was made of some sort of metal. At one point, Rotor even tried to crush the ball with a crude bench vise. When he let up on the pressure, the ball just rebounded back to its perfect round shape. Having run out of ideas, Rotor gave up on the orb for the night and left it sitting on his workbench. Sleepily, he crawled into bed and fell asleep.  
During the night, Sally awoke from another disturbing dream to find her hut was brighter than usual. Slipping out of bed, Sally left the hut and found that the light was coming from Rotor's lab. After thinking for a few seconds, she decided she would investigate it. To Sally's surprise, the light dimmed as she entered the lab. As the light appeared to be coming from the back of the lab, Sally headed straight there. Where Rotor had left the orb sitting, a small palm-sized computer now sat. Sally cautiously walked over to it and picked it up. Once the small computer was in Sally's hands, it turned on.  
"Hello, Sally… I am Nicole." Sally looked around the room, trying to find where the voice was coming from. The computer blinked three lights and then spoke again,  
"Sally… I am Nicole."  
"What are you?" Sally stammered.  
"I would be your friend, but that is a choice only you can make." The computer said in a female voice. Out of the corner of her eye, Sally saw movement amongst the stacks of papers and components. Turning, she saw that it was Rotor followed by the rest of the Freedom Fighters.  
"We heard voices… you okay?" Rotor asked, coming up to where Sally stood.  
"What's that?" Sonic asked while pointing to the small device she held in her hand. Sally shook her head and handed it to Sonic.  
"I dunno… you tell me." Sonic flipped the device over and looked at the back of it. Shaking his head, Sonic handed it back to Sally.  
"No clue, Sal. Rotor, any idea what it is?" Sonic asked, handing the small computer to Rotor. Rotor looked it over same as Sonic did.  
"Well… it's a small computer. Where'd you find it?"  
"I found it in the same place where you left that white orb. I woke up and saw some light coming from your lab here and I found that computer sitting there. Was that what was in that orb?" Sally asked.  
"Maybe… but where were the voices coming from?"  
"The computer… it can talk and understand Mobian." Rotor picked the computer up and opened it. Immediately, the computer acknowledged Rotor by name.  
"What languages do you understand?" The computer blinked two of its lights and then answered,  
"I understand and can speak English, Mobian, Chinese, French, Binary, and over a thousand other languages from this world and many others." The computer replied in perfect Mobian. Rotor handed it back to Sally.  
"What should we do with it? What was all that it said?" Sonic asked, once again not trusting a machine.  
"Like it or not, she's staying with me in my hut. She was listing off the languages that she speaks and understands, though I've only heard of two of them… French and Mobian. The others aren't from around here." Sally replied. She closed the computer and started heading back to her hut. The rest of the kids went back to their huts and crawled back into bed.

(End of Chapter 20)


	23. Chapter 21

Chapter 21 Island in the Sky (Mobian Year: 1388)

On a small island-continent in the far south, the most advanced of races lived. Echidnas had been an inhabitant of Mobius since as far back as anyone could tell. Having designed and built flying vehicles and skyscrapers far before Robotnik had arrived on the planet, the echidna civilization lived in total peace with all other beings of the planet.  
Towering over the capital of Downunda, a single observatory reached beyond the clouds. High up in the observatory, a young echidna couple were busy charting the stars with the aid of the people's most powerful telescope.  
"Two more degrees and we'll have charted the entire Alpha quadrant!" The head of the observatory said to his wife, who was busy plotting where they had already looked.  
"All these years to learn space is a whole lot of nothing. Wish we'd discovered something spectacular!" She said, not looking up from her charts.  
"Be careful what you wish for... you just might get it. Or even worse, it might get us." Her husband exclaimed holding her shoulders. Quickly snapping a picture of what they had found, they rushed down through the observatory to the prestigious Hall of Learning where a dire announcement was made.  
"Citizens... members of the scientific elite. According to our calculations, Echidnapolis is doomed! Within a month, possible only a week, this great white comet will come crashing down upon us!" She quickly explained pointing to the picture they had taken of the comet. Out in the audience, a little girl spoke up,  
"Can anything be done?"  
"Perhaps. I have a daring plan..." The astronomer's wife answered before launching into her idea to save the population. When she was finished, the populace of Echidnapolis filed out of the city intent not on evacuation, but excavation. Together, they scoured the countryside in search of the rarest of commodities. They were searching for Chaos Emeralds, the most potent and most rare form of energy on the planet.  
As they worked and worked, the threat loomed large over the head of each and every echidna; both the tall and the small. As the comet neared the city, a dozen of the largest and most flawless emeralds that they found were delivered and then placed within the cavern underneath the city.  
"If I'm right, the energy from the emeralds should resonate throughout the city's infrastructure severing the gravimetric lines of force." Turning, she watched the emeralds glow and shimmer as the energies poured through the cavern and broke the city free from its ties with gravity. As the city rose up, the comet came crashing down right next to them.  
"That was almost the end!"  
"But, thanks to you m'love... it wasn't! Our world is safe... for the next generation."  
"Funny... even though we're taking it with us, I feel as though we're leaving home."  
Many generations had passed in the years since the island escaped the grip of gravity. During that time, the echidnas learned to adapt, though many yearned for the planet and the days of society's youth.  
"Finally! Thought we'd never get clear of that underbrush!" Dimitri said, swinging a machete to cut through the bushes and saplings that had grown over what they were looking for.  
"There it is, Dimitri, directly ahead of us… the zoot chute! And through it, easy access to our most secret of places!" Dimitri stated as he pulled open the chute. Climbing into it, he and his brother slid down into what was below it.  
"The chaos chamber… and the emeralds that lay within! Our great-great grandmother was the supreme technologist of her era… she knew these crystalline walls would enable the chaos emeralds to negate the force of gravity… and lift Echidnapolis to lofty heights!" Dimitri's brother said, checking the emeralds with some computerized instruments.  
"Agreed, brother Edmund. But should we succeed in this venture, our names will be held in even greater esteem!" Looking from his brother to the instrument he held in his hands. "Uncanny! After all this time, the gems' energy output remains constant! Surely these twelve chaos emeralds hold within them the key to limitless self-perpetuating power!" Dimitri exclaimed, reading the readings on the instrument.  
"Perhaps, Dimitri… but you mustn't lose sight of our goal; the liberation of our displaced race! Since the coming of the great white comet, echidna science has strived to regulate the effect of the emeralds; that we might again become one with the land! Or have you forgotten… our presentation is today." Edmund reminded his brother. Dimitri began putting away his instruments in the bag he had.  
"My apologies, Edmund… I've already collected the readings we need. I was merely… lost in thought." They climbed back out of the chaos chamber and walked to the Hall Of Learning where history stood poised to repeat itself, although with several twists and turns. The hall was filled to capacity with most everyone from the city.  
"Citizens! Members of the scientific elite! Behold… the chaos syphon! As you are aware, removing the emeralds would cause our island to drop like a stone. Instead, my brother and I intend to train this device upon them… gradually absorbing their energies until Echidnapolis is once again joined with the land." Edmund explained to the congregation, while pointing to the appropriate display. His brother Dimitri came over to him.  
"Well spoken, brother! Our proposal is elegant in its simplicity! The elite will have no choice but to…" The Magistrate interrupted Dimitri,  
"… Deny the petition!" The Chief Magistrate spoke as he banged his gavel.  
"What? Chief Magistrate… you can't!"  
"Hush, brother… hear him out!"  
"Despite your conclusions, we dare not risk the safety of the populace on untried theories! Such tampering with the forces of nature could prove disastrous… the decision stands!" The Magistrate explained, rapping his gavel again. Dimitri turned on his heel and stormed out the door of the hall,  
"Weak-willed fools! You'll be sorry once the facts have proven me right!"  
"By your leave, Chief Magistrate. He's taken this badly! We'd pinned our hopes and dreams on… the chaos syphon." Edmund said as he walked towards the labs where he saw Dimitri headed. The chaos syphon had been standing inside a glass tube locked with a digital combination lock, which only Dimitri and Edmund knew what the combination was. "It's gone! 'Once the facts have proven me right!' I knew he was headstrong, but this…" Edmund said to himself as he walked to the zoot chute where he knew his brother was. He slid down the chute as he had done earlier that day and arrived in the chamber.  
"In the name of reason!" He shouted at his brother as he arrived at the bottom of the chute. Dimitri stood amidst the twelve emeralds operating the syphon that he had planned to use on the emeralds with the Magistrate's permission.  
"Reason? Reason had its day, brother!" He said, momentarily pausing the siphoning process. Starting the syphon again, Dimitri went back to draining the power from the emeralds.  
"And, what has begun…" As he continued the process, the alarms on the syphon started going off, "cannot be undone!" He stood there shaking his fists at the ceiling as the syphon began cracking. All at once, the syphon exploded, the concussion wave knocking Edmund against the wall. Hearing the explosion, the Magistrate and one of his assistants came running to the chamber.  
"Edmund! Are you alright?" The Magistrate asked, helping Edmund up.  
"I think so, Chief Magistrate. But, Dimitri upped the absorption rate past the syphon's tolerance level! He… he never had a chance!"  
"Neither did these gems." The Magistrate said, looking down at where the emeralds rested.  
"Nothing but charred, blackened husks!" Edmund observed, kicking at a piece of broken emerald.  
"Then… why aren't we falling?" The Magistrate's assistant asked.  
"There's your answer! The last of the chaos emeralds!" The Magistrate said, pointing to the last remaining emerald.  
"But… can only one uphold the entire island?" Edmund asked. Behind him, a green glow appeared from nowhere.  
"Of course! It's power is infinite!" The green glow spoke, its voice echoing through the chamber.  
"Dimitri?" Edmund asked, turning to look at the being.  
"Far more O once and former kin! The energies of eleven shattered chaos emeralds howl within me! Power enough to lay worlds to waste! Or re-fashion them… in my own image!" As Dimitri spoke, the green glow around him seeming to pulsate and the ground began to shake violently.  
As he spoke, the ground twisted and heaved. After a few moments, a massive dark tower erupted from the planet's surface. The shadow of what would become Mount Fate spread across the land, heralding the fall of echidna civilization. Edmund, the Chief Magistrate, and his assistant were thrown against the walls of the chamber and knocked unconscious.  
When they awoke, they were shackled to the walls of Mount Fate.  
"So… you awaken! Good… that is as it should be! Conquering a world is scarcely worth the effort without those who dared thwart my will in attendance! The elite deemed the chaos syphon too dangerous, but the facts have proven me right! Our island endures and through a bizarre twist of fate, infinite energy is mine to command!" What had once been Dimitri spoke, his voice echoing through the mountain.  
"Your ego has betrayed us, Dimitri! You're not the brother I knew!" Edmund shouted down to his brother from where he was shackled.  
"Correct, Edmund. I am far, far more! Immortal, eternal, a living chaos emerald and the mightiest echidna in the universe!" The glowing echidna said.  
"Your brother is mad with power… for the good of all, he must be stopped!" Chief Magistrate said, more to Edmund than anyone else.  
"Mad? Men always think their superiors mad! But, it's too late to stop me, for the deed is done. Already, Echidnapolis has fallen. A subtle re-programming of our mecha-nauts command code has bent them, and through them, the citizenry to my will! And, once sails have been mounted atop the city's highest towers… the isle, like some great ship, shall traverse the globe… bringing 'enlightenment' to the dwellers below. Only this fortress, which has been strengthened with a fraction of my limitless power, can resist my staggering might! It's walls are proof against any attack!" Dimitri said, throwing a ball of his energy at the wall next to Edmund.  
"Except… fire ants?" Edmund looked next to him where Dimitri hit the wall, it crumbled under his might, letting a group of fire ants through. The ants chewed their way through the walls that held Edmund and the other prisoners.  
"We're free!" Edmund almost cheered as he and the others pulled at the shackles and broke free.  
"The ants have eaten into the towers foundation! It's collapsing!" Chief Magistrate shouted as the tower began collapsing, chunks of stone falling from the ceiling all around them.  
"Quickly, brother… we must escape before…" Edmund pleaded with his brother.  
"This cannot be… phenomenal power bested by…" Dimitri was crushed under the falling avalanche of rocks.  
"Dimitri!" Edmund shouted over the noise. "Brother… I'm sorry!" He said quieter. They ran from the tower as it imploded on itself in a cloud of dust and debris. Once the dust and debris cleared, they all gathered around the remains of the tower.  
"'Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider his ways, and be wise.' It seems we owe our very future to the humblest of God's creatures." Chief Magistrate quoted from an ancient echidna text.  
"My brother… nothing could spare him from his fate! Nothing… and no one." Edmund quietly said.  
"A tragedy, Edmund… all the more, should we fail to learn from it. By placing trust in science, our race has committed an act of hubris… arrogant pride… and innocence has paid the price. We must make amends as best we are able." The Chief Magistrate said as he removed his judicial wig and robe. In the shadow of the fateful mountain, the echidnas renounced technology, tore down their city, and to ensure history not repeat itself, they appointed a guardian to stand watch over the chaos emerald. Edmund was the first to bear that mantle, a sacred trust passed on generation to generation.  
Though the echidnas were filled with remorse, they could not bring themselves to deny society's achievements. They gathered together examples of their advanced culture and hauled them across the island and buried them in a vast underground city beneath Mount Fate. Edmund was the first of the Knuckles Clan to stand watch over the emerald and throughout the centuries, his children, and his children's children stood watch over the emerald, never leaving the island in case someone would try to steal the emerald.  
Since the rise of Robotropolis, the youngest of the Knuckles clan, appropriately named Knuckles, saw the fall of Acorn Kingdom and the overnight rise of Robotropolis. Ever since then, Knuckles had stayed close to the emerald for fear of its safety. Having never left the island, he did not know what all had happened to Kingdom Acorn. He just knew that a new city had sprung up where the castle used to be. With no clue as to what happened to the King and his family and no idea what this new city was doing there, Knuckles slept nervously every night in case someone tried to get to the emerald.

(End of Chapter 21)


	24. Chapter 22

Chapter 22 Julayla

When King and Queen Acorn gave birth to their daughter, Princess Sally, they immediately began searching for a suitable teacher and mentor for her. This proved to be no easy task as there were not that many teachers on the continent. Almost when they had given up all hopes of finding a teacher that met their criteria, they stumbled across a middle-aged feline teacher in the Eastern quadrant who was willing to come to the Kingdom and teach their daughter. After arranging for her to be brought to the Kingdom and setting up room and board in the castle, they showed her around the Kingdom and talked to her.  
After showing her around the town and getting her settled in her room in the castle, they introduced her to their daughter, Sally. At first, Sally thought Julayla seemed too stern and set in her ways, but the more they talked, the more Sally came to understand Julayla. It was Julayla and Rosie, Sally's aunt, who were in charge of taking care of Sally when the King and Queen were away on diplomatic missions.  
Sally turned out to be an impressive student; she passed almost all of Julayla's classes and proved to be most intelligent at her young age of six years old. By the time she was ten years old, Julayla lightened up on Sally's schooling. Some days Sally would bring a friend or two to the castle for a sleepover and Julayla would teach Sally's friend. It was by bringing friends to the castle that Julayla met Sonic and Bunnie; Julayla had a tough time getting Sonic to sit still through one of her lessons, while she had no problems with Bunnie. Bunnie was a quiet child, caught up in natural things. She and Sally were equals in Gym, though Sally could not learn how to get plants to grow as fast and as green as Bunnie could. Sonic was the opposite of Bunnie; Sonic was the fastest runner anyone had ever seen, though he was nearly incapable of sitting through three hours of schooling when he was at the castle.  
With all of Julayla's teaching abilities, she was told by the King and Queen to leave Sally's royal training to her parents. It was this one thing that Sally needed more than anything. When Robotnik betrayed the King, it suddenly became Rosie and Julayla's duty to take care of the six children. Julayla had never raised children before and neither had Rosie, so as much as they taught the children, the children taught them. Even as strict as the two older women in the small village could be at times, the children still managed to get away with many things. Much was made of Sonic's bringing young Miles Prower to the village shortly after Robotnik had taken over the city, but behind closed doors Julayla was glad that one more child could be saved.  
When Bunnie was taken by Robotnik and partially roboticized, something changed in the village; it seemed everyone had finally realized what Robotnik was capable of. Bunnie's being roboticized made everyone else become more aware of what they were up against in the war, and though they knew what they had to do, it almost always fell on Robotnik to make the first move which would be countered in every way possible. The Freedom Fighters did not have much, but they did everything they could with what little they had; Rotor being the engineer he was, he was constantly building new things that they would need out of what he could find.  
Rotor's intelligence, Sally's persistence and leadership skills, Sonic's speed, Antoine's military training all added up to barely enough to hold Robotnik at bay. What they needed was some kind of edge; Rotor and Sally were almost positive the small computer would give them that much needed edge, Sonic was sure it was the power rings his Uncle Chuck had designed that would give them the edge. Julayla knew that whatever the edge would turn out to be, it was only a matter of time.  
It had been while Julayla was helping the children and Rosie build the three new huts that she noticed the pains the first time. She had been carrying an armload of straw and lumber for the walls of Bunnie's hut when she suddenly developed an excruciating pain in her chest. Immediately, she called for Rotor and they went back to his hut. Rotor did as good as he could in trying to diagnose where Julayla's pain was coming from, but he found nothing. The closest thing he could come up with was she pulled a muscle or two from the heavy lifting she was doing. His advice was for her to lie down for a day or two and relax.  
All the while she was lying in bed relaxing, her condition slowly got worse to the point that it hurt her to breathe. It was at this point that she realized that she was going to die. She called for Sally.  
Sally had been out helping Tails, Sonic, Bunnie, Antoine, and Rosie when Rotor came out and got Sally. He led her without saying a word to Julayla's hut where she lay slowly slipping away. Sally went up to Julayla's door and knocked on it. Julayla's weak voice answered from the other side. Princess Sally walked in and closed the door behind her. Unsure of what to do, Sally stood by the door for a few seconds.  
"Sally… come closer, my child, that these aged eyes might more clearly see." Julayla said from her bed.  
"Are… you…" Sally started to ask, fearing that the answer would be what I thought it would be.  
"Hush, favored one. There are, to all things, a season… and time is in short supply. You bear the mantle of leadership with honor and grace. Though you might have longed for other paths, the duties of your birthright could not be denied." She rather slowly said, "From the first, you studied long and hard, ever growing in knowledge and spirit, and as your teacher, I would have accepted no less. Each day brought new lessons." Sally's memories slipped into the past to one of Julayla's many lessons.  
"Here, snatch it from my hand." Julayla said to the younger me as she held an acorn in her hand. Young Sally, as quickly as she could, reached out and made an attempt to grab it. Pulling back her hand, she was surprised when she opened my hand and did not see the acorn.  
"Huh? Where is it?" Sally asked.  
"Where it always was. This ceremonial acorn has been a symbol of your heritage for twelve generations, and once you have successfully claimed it, you will have mastered the most important discipline of all." Julayla had said.  
"I remember that day, and many others like it… you never let up for a moment." Sally said.  
"Only because I cared… and knew you to carry the seeds of greatness. None were prouder than I at your commencement ball… nor more sorrowful on the day your father was taken from us. That was long ago, and you have since grown much. Let us discover together… exactly how much!" Julayla said as she opened her closed hand and in it was the acorn. Sally knew what she was to do; try to get the acorn from her hand using her wits and intelligence. For a few seconds, she observed the situation and finally came up with an idea to get it. She tapped her hand with her knee, bouncing the acorn into the air and as fast as she could, grabbed it.  
"An elegant solution. Such wisdom cannot be taught... it must be acquired! You are ready... farewell, beloved one…" She said as she faded away into the grips of death. Sad, Sally left Julayla's hut and walked out to the clearing where she had seen the orb come crashing down a few nights ago. There she sat alone until Sonic came walking up to her. She had been crying and for once made no attempt to hide it from Sonic.  
"Sally, I thought I might find you up here. Is everything alright?" Sonic asked.  
"I guess. Just feeling a little lonelier tonight, Sonic." Sally sighed.  
"Tonight is almost yesterday, Sally… and there are many more tomorrows ahead." Sonic said. At that, Sonic took Sally back to her hut for the night and then went back to his.

(End of Chapter 22)


	25. Chapter 23

Chapter 23 Saying Goodbye

The following day, Sally and the rest of the Freedom Fighters dug a grave for Julayla so they could bury her at sundown, as was custom. No one said much all that day; mainly everyone cried and helped however they could. Sally, Sonic, and Bunnie dug the grave while Rotor, Tails, Antoine, and Rosie built a hasty coffin for Julayla's body. Once the coffin was ready, Rotor and Rosie were about to place Julayla's body in it when Sally hurried over to where they were.  
"I'll do that. Daddy would do it if he were here, but he's not so I'll do it." Sally said plainly. Rotor and Rosie placed Julayla's body back on the gurney and let Sally do what she had to. The Princess had tried placing a call to the Eastern Quadrant where Julayla was from to try and get hold of her family there, but she was unable to get through at all. Sally had spent much of the night crying no matter where she was; she ended up sleeping for a couple hours in Bunnie's hut before getting up before everyone else to get as much as she could done before anyone else woke up.  
Sally's first order of business had been to try and gather enough cut lumber to make the coffin. That proved to be no easy task as most of it had been used to build the three new huts. Princess Sally felt that as much as possible should be her responsibility as Julayla was her mentor and teacher before the Betrayal, though she was also the teacher for the rest of the Knothole children. For the whole day, hardly anyone talked; not even Sonic cracked a joke. He could see how sad Sally was about Julayla's passing so he both kept his distance and stayed by her side in case she needed a shoulder to cry on.  
As the sun started to go down, Sally went to her hut, as did everyone else. Sally had hand-made a black dress from scrap cloth she had found around the camp for this one occasion; everyone else simply wore darker colored clothes. A few minutes later, they all gathered back at the grave where Julayla's coffin sat suspended above the grave on a rope and pulley system Rotor had come up with. When the sun met the horizon and turned the sky pink, blue, and gold, Sally lowered Julayla's coffin into the grave. Then everyone grabbed a handful of dirt and after saying what he or she most remembered about Julayla, placed the dirt upon her casket. Once everyone was done, Sally and Rosie finished filling in the grave and afterwards, planted a white rosebush on each side of the headstone and then went back to their huts before dinner. After a quiet dinner, everyone turned in early.  
Sally and Bunnie stayed up most of the night talking and trying to keep from crying. After about three hours of talking about everything they could think of, they both fell asleep. Rosie let the children sleep late, which Julayla never would have let them do. Once Sally woke up, Rosie called her aside and talked to her.  
"M'lady, your mentor Julayla was most explicit in the division of her estate. She left you everything she had ever owned. Follow me…" Rosie explained as she led Sally to her hut. Sally had never seen the inside of Julayla's hut, so she did not know how much she had. Rosie showed Sally into her former mentor's hut. Once inside, Sally saw that Julayla had boxes, crates, and piles of things covering both walls; old paintings, boxes of old dresses and clothes, many unmarked boxes. Sitting at the foot of her bed was a very old-looking chest. "That was Julayla's Hope chest." Rosie said, running her hand over the dusty, deeply etched lid.  
"Oh, my… she meant for me to have it on the day of my coronation." Sally remarked as she opened the dusty lid. Rosie let Sally know where she would be should the Princess need her and left Sally in Julayla's hut. Sally opened the chest and began going through its contents. Inside were some of Julayla's old photographs, a couple old journals, more pictures. Then Sally came across something that brought tears to her eyes; a photo of Sally standing next to her mother and father in front of the palace. Sally set the picture of her with her parents aside and continued looking through the chest.  
Underneath the picture of the Royal family, Sally found a vest with pockets; a vest just like she had always wanted. She picked up the vest and the photo and went back to her hut, and then went out to play with the rest of the children and try to put the past couple days out of memory for a bit.

Sam woke with a start; she had been dreaming about driving the Lamborghini down the highway and just as she was about to land on Mobius, a loud popping sound woke her up. She sat up in bed and looked around her. At first glance, nothing seemed to be different but when she turned on her bedside lamp, she found Nicole had disappeared. Glancing at her clock, she figured Aaron would probably be awake and called him.  
"Umm… hello?" Aaron sleepily said.  
"It's Sam. Nicole's gone… I woke up from a dream and found she was gone!" Sam explained quickly to Aaron. Silence.  
"What do you mean, Nicole disappeared… how can a computer just up and walk away?" Aaron asked, sounding more awake. Sam looked at the clock again before continuing.  
"I woke up after hearing a loud popping noise and found the computer was gone. I dunno what happened or anything, but it's not here. I know I didn't leave it anyplace 'cause I was using it before I went to bed." Sam explained. In the background, she heard Aaron grabbing the car keys.  
"You sure it's not in the car?"  
"I'm sure… I used it here before going to bed. I'm not imagining it or anything… it's not in my room and I didn't leave it in the car. I have no clue what happened to it."  
"Well, I'll be up in a few hours. I'll come over there when I get up and help you look for it. I'm dead tired, so see you in a few hours, Sam."  
"Okay… I'll be up by then. See you then, Aaron." Sam said before hanging up. They both went back to bed and fell asleep almost instantly. In the morning when Aaron woke up, he had a quick breakfast and then went over to Sam's house. When he got there, the house was a mess.  
"What on Earth happened here, Sam? Looks like a tornado went through here!" Aaron asked as he walked in. Sam's parents sat in the living room looking rather annoyed that their daughter was tearing through every drawer, cupboard, and closet in the house.  
"Aaron… did you check your house and the car for the computer?" Sam asked from behind a pile of winter coats. Aaron walked over to where she was digging through the bottom of the coat closet.  
"I checked everyplace a computer that small could end up; under my bed, in the car. I even called up school and no luck there either. I'm sure it'll turn up eventually someplace." Aaron reassured Sam while helping her pile the coats back into the closet. Once they had everything back in the closet, Sam took Aaron upstairs to her room.  
"I hope it turns up someplace soon. I'd hate for it to fall into the wrong hands." Sam said as she sat down on her bed, checking under her pillows for the fourth time.  
"Sam, you're talking about Nicole as if she was a national secret or something. We'll find her, don't worry. In the meantime, I think I can come up with a way to interface a regular laptop with that docking port in the car." As Aaron spoke to Sam, his cell phone began ringing. He dug through his pockets and got the tiny phone out.  
"Hello?" There was a pause. "Alright, great! Yeah, I can be there then." Another pause. "Okay… thanks very much!" Aaron then hung up the phone.  
"I bought a custom laptop off the Internet earlier today for the car and that was the company calling to confirm when I'd be there to pick it up. It'll be ready today in about three hours. The company I got it from is out in California, so I've gotta take a trip out west in an hour or so. And, of course, you're more than welcome to come with." Aaron explained.  
"I'd come with even if you didn't ask… I love riding in that car and going out cruising with you. I'll go down and let my parents know." Sam said, taking Aaron's hand and leading him downstairs with her. She let her parents know where she was going and how long they would be gone. Once they got to the car, Sam insisted on driving which Aaron let her do after he tried to talk her out of driving without the computers to assist her. They arrived in Silicon Valley, California with about thirty minutes to spare. Once they got to the Valley, Sam let Aaron take over driving the rest of the way. Once they reached the computer factory, Aaron had to go through the security checkpoints with the car; X-rays, bomb sniffing dogs, and Aaron and Sam were searched before they were let onto the show floor.  
"Can I help you?" Asked one of the many sales representatives assisting the customers.  
"Yes, I'm here to pick up a custom laptop I ordered online. I can't remember the name of the person who called me earlier today to let me know it was ready…" Aaron was explaining when another sales representative came up to him.  
"You must be Aaron Brandt. I'm Penny, the woman you talked to on the phone earlier. Your laptop is ready; all you have to do is sign for it and make sure it works for what you need it to. Please follow me…" She said as she led Aaron and Sam back to her desk. "Let me tell you, you gave the guys in research and development a work-out with this one. If you don't mind me asking, what do you plan to use this laptop for?" Penny asked as she got the paperwork from her desk and handed it to Aaron.  
"Actually, the laptop's gonna be controlling my car. The computer that was controlling it previously got lost somehow, and I needed to replace it as soon as possible. Where do I sign?" Aaron asked, trying to judge her reaction. She was studying Aaron with the same curiosity that Neile displayed when Aaron and Sam first took him to Mobius.  
"Just sign here and the laptop's yours. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could I see this car that your laptop is going to be controlling?" Aaron signed the papers and was handed the laptop, which was resting inside a cushioned case. Aaron opened the case to make sure everything was there; the laptop, the power adapters he asked for, all the original installation discs, and the interface cable Aaron had specially made to connect from the laptop's docking port to the interface slot in the dashboard.  
"Actually, I was gonna ask if the technicians who built it for me would be able to come out and see the laptop used for the first time. Of course, you're welcome to come out and see it too." Aaron answered. Without hesitation, Penny called down to the R&D team and had them send up all the technicians who had worked on Aaron's computer. While Penny was talking to the technicians, Aaron powered the laptop up and, after the initial setup, wirelessly connected to the car and managed to figure out how to install the car's software on the laptop.  
Once the R&D team who worked on Aaron's laptop arrived, they all went outside to where Aaron's car was parked. They were not incredibly impressed with the outside of the car, as Aaron had the car morph back to normal before they left the floor. Once at the car, under Aaron's direction via the laptop, he had the car drive into the middle of the parking lot and execute a perfect doughnut and then come back to him. The research and development team was fairly impressed with the two morphs, but wanted to see what all the car was capable of. Aaron morphed the car into its stretch mode and then to InterDimensional travel mode. Again, they were moderately impressed but they wanted to see more.  
The last thing Aaron wanted to do required he be at the wheel to control the car. Aaron and Sam unceremoniously got back into the car and powered up the electric propulsion system and physically connected the laptop to the car for the first time. Once the laptop coordinated its software and clocks with the car, Aaron drove to the farthest parking space and floored the accelerator. Within the small parking lot and using a few commands on the laptop, Aaron managed to open the portal and drive into it. Once he was on the other side of it, Aaron drove as fast as he could to the nearest point where he could turn around, and once he had turned around, Aaron drove back to the parking lot where the people from the computer store were still standing.  
"Incredible! How'd you do that?" Was the consensus of the shouted questions asked by the research and development team. Aaron just grinned and drove off towards the highway leading back towards Texarkana. The highway took them through Los Angeles and right past a group of street racers. Aaron dug through his pockets and pulled out fifty dollars. Sam knew Aaron would race them and win every race.  
Alongside both sides of the road, cars were lined up for almost two miles, and at the far end a group of cars and people stood talking and pulling out money for bets on the races. Aaron pulled up in front of them and he and Sam got out of the Lamborghini and went up to the racers.  
"Hey, you guys got room for an amateur in the races?" One of the racers came up to Aaron.  
"Maybe… you got money?" He asked, acting tough. Aaron pulled out his fifty dollars. "What you got under the hood in the Diablo?"  
"Custom built engine; no nitro or turbos or anything special like that… just good ol' fashioned gas and a few extra horses. You wanna check for yourself?" Aaron asked. The racer, who Aaron guessed was the leader, shook his head.  
"It's cool. You ever raced before?" Aaron nodded. "Alright, you're in. I'll put you up against me. Oh, and I'm Jeff. I'm running the McLaren over there." Jeff said, then he turned to the rest of the racers, "Alright… we're ready." The first group of racers lined up and raced, and soon the second group and then the third group. Finally it got around to Aaron and Sam's turn to race Jeff. Aaron ended up taking first, followed by Jeff and then a couple other guys tied for third. Aaron and Jeff's race almost ended in a tie; Jeff was faster off the line, but Aaron was able to out power him in the half-mile. Once they were done racing and everyone had left, Aaron let Sam do the driving back to Texarkana. They made it back to Arkansas two hours after they left the races with Sam driving all the way and Aaron napping in the passenger seat.

All the following week, Sally tried her best to keep from being down and depressed and sad about Julayla's passing. Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters did their best to keep her company and keep her active. Towards the end of the week, Sally began planning a secret mission. Once she realized how dangerous Robotnik was, the young Princess set about planning how she could recruit more Freedom Fighters to help in the war against Robotnik. Scattered throughout the continent, the remaining free people were known for doing as much as possible to keep as much distance as possible between them and Robotnik, but Sally nonetheless called on them. This she did by leaving a note at the prearranged drop site and awaiting a response. The response simply told Sally to meet whoever was willing to join her group of Freedom Fighters at a specific location on a specific date and time. To test the Mobians she was hoping to recruit, she came up with a mission that they would complete along with Sally. Once she had a mission in mind, she grabbed her vest and her computer and snuck out of the village, leaving a simple note for the Freedom Fighters.  
Sally left for a small island just off the southern coast where the first objective of her mission lay; a power sub-station that Robotnik had recently built. From what Sally had found out from what Nicole was able to find in Robotnik's mainframes and satellites, there were three power sub-stations located around Robotropolis and just off the shore. Apparently, they were part of a defense system that surrounded Robotropolis and taking those three sub-stations offline would render the city defenseless. Using this information, Sally had formed the first mission for the new recruits to test their skills and to show them what they would be dealing with.

(End of Chapter 23)


	26. Chapter 24

Chapter 24 Sally and her First Mission

Sally left early the next morning while everyone else was asleep. She quietly slipped out of camp and started the relatively short walk to the waters edge, where she would swim out to the island which lay about fifty yards off the shore. The island was nothing more than a dock wrapped around a small atoll with the power substation situated in the center of the island behind a twenty-foot high wall. In order to get over the wall, Sally used a grappling hook that she had Rotor make and a length of rope to quietly slip over the wall.  
On the other side of the wall was a SWATbot standing guard with its back turned to the wall. On her seeing this, Sally took the rope and grappling hook and managed to take off the SWATbot's head with the hook and rope. Once the robot was down and offline, Sally made her way to the energy station, glancing all around her to check for more SWATbots. On the side of the building was a small door locked from the inside by an electronic locking mechanism of some sort. Pulling out Nicole, Sally was able to defeat the lock and gain access to the building.  
Once inside, Sally switched on the lights, only to find her entrance had not gone unnoticed by the security systems. Every monitor in the room she was in was rapidly flicking through each security camera except the one for the room she was in. Knowing she had already overstayed her welcome, Sally took out Nicole again and impatiently waited as Nicole dug through the computers files and finally activated the energy substations self-destruct mechanism. Seeing the self-destruct was on a mere twenty-five second timer hastened Sally's exit from the building. Once she got out of the access tunnel she had gained access through, she ran for the surrounding wall and the waters that lay beyond. As she neared the wall she had climbed over, there was a noise around the corner of the building she was standing in the shadows of.  
Before she had left Knothole, Rotor had given her what he had for weapons; mainly the grappling hook and two simple grenades he had made from recycled robot parts and natural materials. Taking one of the grenades in hand, she prepared herself for what lay around the corner. What she found was the one thing she had not prepared herself for; a skunk with a loaded bow mounted to his right glove.  
"Who… are you?" Sally asked, not sure how to act, being that the skunk was aiming his bow at Sally's head and she had her grenade in hand, ready to throw it if the event called for it.  
"Would've thought that t'be obvious, luv… I'm the bloke with the knock-out gas bolt, ready t' put ya to sleep!" He stated as he stepped closer to Sally. "Now explain ya self or it's into the land of dreams for ya!" He demanded as he raised the bolt so it was eye level with Sally.  
"Look… whoever you are… we don't have for this! We need to get out of here before the explosion…" Sally explained quickly, remembering how much time the self-destruct sequence was set for.  
"Explosion? What explosion?" As the skunk asked, the timer expired and the building erupted into a ball of flame, throwing the skunk and Sally a dozen feet and showering them with rubble from the walls. For a few seconds, Sally and the skunk just lay on the ground catching their breaths and checking to see if the pains that they felt were just from being thrown through the air or if it was something broken.  
"That explosion." Sally answered finally as she got up, dusting herself off and checking Nicole for any damage. The skunk groaned a bit as he picked himself up.  
"Nicely done, luv! Saved me the trouble of blowing the place to Kingdom Come m'self!" The skunk said as he got up.  
"Happy to oblige… any enemy of Robotnik's is a friend of mine! Call me Sally."  
"Sally? As in Princess Sally?" The skunk asked before snapping to attention and saluting the Princess. "Geoffrey St. John, late of His Majesty's secret service, current leader of the rebel underground. Pleasure t'make your acquaintance." Sally had not received much of her royal training before Robotnik began the Betrayal, so she was unsure of how to respond to being saluted. After a few seconds, Geoffrey took his hand down and, glancing around, decided they should get off the island.  
"Rebel underground? I wasn't aware of any…"  
"We pride ourselves on maintaining a low profile, m'lady… on the Q-T, so to speak!" As they walked towards where St. John had come aground on the island, they both kept nervously looking behind them to make sure any robots or anyone else who happened to be on the island was not following them. Out of the corner of his eye, Geoffrey saw three SWATbots come marching out of the shadows with their lasers armed and glowing.

Aaron and Sam made it back to Texarkana without incident and ended up spending the night at Aaron's house. In the morning, Samantha was the first one up and had made breakfast for the both of them by the time Aaron woke up. As soon as Aaron got up and had finished breakfast, the phone rang.  
"Hello?"  
"Aaron… it's Professor Leif. I've finally finished with that sapling you brought me… once I get home tonight, I'm going to plant it and see if it'll grow around here. You might be interested to see the results of the tests I ran on a few of the leaves. I'll be in my lab until about 4PM if you wanna stop by." Jacob told Aaron. Aaron checked the clock across the room.  
"Yeah, I can be there by like one or two o'clock… gotta take the car through a carwash. The roads were a bit dusty last night." Aaron said, before saying goodbye to the professor and hanging up. Once Aaron was done with the call, he and Sam took the car to the nearest carwash and ran the car through it a couple times. Once he was satisfied that the car was clean, he and Sam drove over to the lab.  
"Hey Aaron and Sam! Glad you could make it… I was just about to call again and see if you guys were coming or not. All the stuff about that sapling is over here. After I show it to you, if it's okay with you two, I'd like to submit it to a scientific journal I write for now and then… get some feedback and suggestions on what to do with the data I have and the sapling." Jacob launched into as soon as Aaron and Sam walked through the door.  
"What'd you find? Something you recognized as plant?" Aaron asked as they followed the professor back to the lab table, which was now covered with slides and notes and a large microscope. Sam picked up one of the notebooks and casually glanced through the various notes and diagrams covering its pages. Most of the notebook was gibberish to Sam, though she did recognize some of the diagrams as drawings of plant cells.  
"It looks like a normal oak sapling at first glance, but there's cellular structures that I've never seen before. And there's more… there are crystalline structures that appear to grow with the rest of the plant and there even seems to be a couple microorganisms that live inside the leaves without destroying the plant. Also, I found a blue quill underneath one of the leaves. Based on what the quill looked like under a microscope and all the books I have available, the quill looks vaguely like a hedgehog's quill, but I've never seen a hedgehog with blue quills, have you?" Jacob asked. Aaron looked at Sam and she nodded to Aaron.  
"Doc, you might wanna sit down for this one." Doctor Leif sat down on one of the few chairs that sat around his cluttered lab. "There's a highway that floats in space; a highway that will take you anyplace you want to go, even to other planets. One of the planets is called Mobius and is inhabited by sentient, intelligent animals and your average space-age humans inhabit it. The humans ended up there back in 1971 when Flight 181 flew into the Bermuda Triangle and got flung to Mobius where they crashed into a mountain.  
"About a year after they ended up there, they sent a space mission towards the edge of their solar system in an attempt to contact Earth. On Mobius, there's a blue hedgehog… the blue quill… called Sonic. He walks on two legs, talks just like you and me and Sam, just he's a hedgehog. My car is the only thing that can travel between here and there… it's powered by two giant emeralds that enable it to travel between here and there in under two hours at about fifteen hundred miles per hour." Aaron explained. Jacob was not sure what to make of what Aaron had just explained. In the back of his mind, Jacob kept wondering if the sapling and what Aaron had told him was some sort of joke.  
"You're kidding me, right? I mean, a car that can travel to other planets, a blue hedgehog that walks on two legs and talks, and a plane that crashed near the Triangle ending up on some planet no one's ever heard of sounds a lot like of malarkey to me. And still, none of that explains the microorganisms in the plant or the crystalline structures in the leaves. And to top it all off, where in the world do you get a car that can travel in space, not to mention to other planets?" Jacob asked, running the whole story that Aaron had told him through his head. As he thought about it more and more, the story started to make more and more sense. Samantha pulled out a packet of pictures and the memory card from the digital camera and handed them to Aaron. The digital camera had been used to take a few seconds of video from their first trip.  
"I kid you not… here, we've got a couple rolls of pictures and a few seconds of video from our first trip there. I even have the negatives if you don't believe me." Aaron said as he handed the pictures and memory card to Jacob. Jacob took the pictures and looked through them, then viewed the few seconds of video on the memory card. After viewing the video file several times, Jacob turned to Aaron and Samantha.  
"You're serious… this is too good to be special effects or something. I didn't believe you, but you've got all this… stuff and…" Jacob said, going back through the pictures.  
"It's all real, dude. We were there and we're planning on going back there to do a little sightseeing again. I'll bring back more pictures and some more video. One of these times, we might even initiate contact with the animals." Aaron explained, knowing that Jacob would object to initiating First Contact purely on a scientific basis.  
"Coming into contact with them might not be the smartest idea you've ever had, Aaron. Your just being there may be changing the way they live; influencing their lives in ways you couldn't even imagine."

Before she had time to react, Geoffrey jumped and pushed Sally down out of the line of fire. Cowering behind a large piece of pipe, they prepared to defend themselves. Sally got out her slingshot and Geoffrey loaded his wrist-mounted crossbow.  
"Walkin' tin cans don't look none too friendly, luv!" Geoffrey said to Sally, while doing his best to protect him and the Princess.  
"So I noticed, Mister St. John." Sally said back, trying to damage or destroy as many of the SWATbots as possible. Geoffrey's bolts and Sally's paintballs were slowing down the SWATbots, though not enough to buy them much time. "Not too shabby! Think you can pick up the pace a little?" She asked, noticing Geoffrey had not been firing for a bit.  
"I could… if I wasn't plum out of bolts!"  
"Out of bolts? Some boy scout you turned out to be! What kind of Freedom Fighter are you, anyway?"  
"One who flies by the seat of his pants, luv." Reaching into her vest, Sally pulled out what looked like another paintball.  
"You remind me of someone else I know. Fortunately… I came prepared!" Sally threw the ball and it landed at the feet of the SWATbots and exploded, taking the robots with it. "There! That homemade grenade should give those SWATbots something to think about!" Sally happily exclaimed as she and Geoffrey made their way to where Geoffrey had come ashore.  
"I'll say this for ya, luv… you've got style." Geoffrey complimented her.  
"Save the compliments for later, Mister St. John… at least until we're linked up with the rest of my unit." She said, as they started back across the body of water to where Sally's recruits waited.  
"The Princess sure is taking her own sweet time. Maybe she ran into something she couldn't handle!" The pig sitting on an old fallen log next to their campfire said.  
"There's nothing she can't handle, Hamlin… she's a trained professional. I just with we could have gone with her." Said the green armadillo standing across from the pig.  
"You said it yourself, Arlo… she's a trained professional and we're only trainees." Said the purple duck sitting to the armadillos left, "But how are we supposed to learn anything by watching and waiting?"  
"Patience is a virtue, Penelope… and following orders is the most important lesson any would-be Freedom Fighter can learn. If she says wait, we wait until…" The reddish-brown porcupine sitting across from the duck was saying when he was interrupted. Something broke a branch someplace behind the pig. Everyone turned and looked to where they thought the sound had come from. Without warning, Geoffrey leaped out from behind a tree and lunged at the pig. Geoffrey and the pig proceeded to throw punches and kicks at each other the best they could. They carried on for a couple minutes until Geoffrey managed to get his wrist-bow loaded.  
"Ya got three second t' explain y'self, mate… or you'll be one sorry slab of bacon." Geoffrey threatened as he aimed his wrist-bow at the pig's throat. At the same time, Sally came running out of the woods behind the two opponents.  
"That's enough!" She shouted at Geoffrey and the pig. She brought her voice back down to conversation level before continuing, "Get off him, Geoffrey! They're with me. We're all on the same side, after all!"  
"Sorry, mate. Just got a bit carried away." Geoffrey apologized, offering his hand to the pig to help him up.  
"Oh, you'll be carried away all right… once I'm finished with you!" The pig growled.  
"You an' what navy, you slobberin' sack of…" Geoffrey drew his fist back, ready to strike while the pig got ready to tackle Geoffrey.  
"You won't raise such a stink after…" Sally jumped between the two of them.  
"Cool it! Both of you! Save some for Doctor Robotnik. There's plenty of him to go around." She said, relaxing her stance but making sure to stay between the two of them. "For your information, this is Geoffrey St. John, the leader of the local branch of the Rebel Underground. He'll be joining us on our mission." Sally introduced.  
"Pleasure t' meet you." He said, relaxing his posture.  
"And these fresh young faces are the next generation of the Freedom Fighters… Arlo," she said pointing to the armadillo, "Penelope," she said pointing to the duck, "and Dylan." She said pointing towards the reddish-brown porcupine. "Hamlin, I believe you've already met." She said, motioning towards the pig. "Now, let's all get some shut-eye. We have a full day ahead of us tomorrow… and I want to fill Geoffrey in on our plan." She finished, heading towards her tent. Penelope and Arlo headed into their respective tents, leaving Geoffrey and Hamlin standing outside.  
"The princess may buy your hero act, pretty boy… but I don't!" Hamlin said to Geoffrey, before he too went to his tent.  
"Well, aint that too bleedin' bad." Geoffrey shot back before heading to his tent. Once they were all settled in their tents, quietness fell on the camp as sleep came.

(End of Chapter 24)


End file.
